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Re:Riddles

Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2002 3:50 pm
by CESS.tk
That is correct. I also would have accepted: 0, exactly 7, a lot more than two, ....

Re:Riddles

Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2002 7:54 am
by Zonkie
Okay, let's have another mind-biggling riddle ;D!

This one's quite hard and very mathematical, some of you may have heard it already.

Two mathematicians, lets call them Jack and Jim, sit in a cafe and start to talk.
Jack: Hey Jim, didn't you have three daughters?
Jim: Yes, that's right.
Jack: How old were they again?
Jim: Well, we aren't mathematicians for nothing. I won't make it that easy, but I'll give you some hints. The product of their ages is 36.
Jack: Wait, that doesn't help me enough.
Jim: Okay, The sum of their ages is the number of windows in that building there.
Jack: Wait, that still doesn't help me enough... I need one more hint.
Jim: The oldest one has blonde hair.
Jack: OKay, now I know their ages.

Based on those hints, what are the ages of the three daughters?


(Product = age*age*age , Sum = age+age+age)

Re:Riddles

Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2002 8:38 am
by jelleghys
Like you said, I have heard of this before... Although it was a little bit different (product of ages = 72).

Anyway... 2, 3 and 6?

Re:Riddles

Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2002 11:57 am
by Zonkie
No, they are not 2, 3 and 6. I think I know the answer when the product is 72, but telling it would give a good hint on the answer to this one, so I won't say it just now...

Re:Riddles

Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2002 12:21 pm
by CESS.tk
Are you sure you got the numbers right? It could be either 2-3-6, 2-2-9 or 3-3-4.

Re:Riddles

Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2002 4:55 pm
by Zonkie
Yes, I got the numbers right. There is only one answer to the problem, though. Of course there are many triplets of numbers that give 36 as their product, but I am not looking for all of those, but only the one that works together with the last two hints. The second hint is a bit tricky, because the fact that Jack needs another hint is really more important than the number of windows in the building...

If you are only going for the product hint, it could also be 1-1-36 or 1-2-18 etc.

Re:Riddles

Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2002 3:41 am
by CESS.tk
W00PS, forgot that 1 is also a number ::)
I'm such dumb-Image. :P

Anyway, the answer is 2-2-9.

Re:Riddles

Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2002 6:47 am
by Zonkie
Okay, that is correct, but would you mind showing your working so others can follow how you got the answer? For the product of 72, the answer should be 3-3-8.

CESS.tk posts the next one :D.

Re:Riddles

Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2002 11:48 am
by CESS.tk
OK, here we go:
First divide 36 into its prime factors, like this:
[pre]36 | 2
18 | 2
9 | 3
3 | 3
1 |[/pre]
So 36=2^2*3^2
Now get all the possible combinations (and remember that 1 is also a number ::)), and their sums:

1+2+18=21
1+1+36=38
1+4+9=14
1+12+3=16
1+6+6=13
2+6+3=11
2+2+9=13
4+3+3=10

The fact that the guy needed another hint, means that the number of windows hint wasn't enough, in other words there's multiple combinations with the same sum. As we can see in the list above that's 2+2+9 and 1+6+6.
Hint n?3 tells us that there is an oldest child, so it can only be 2+2+9.

Re:Riddles

Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2002 12:07 pm
by CESS.tk
Here's an old one, if you know it already, don't post the answer immediately, let the others chew on it for a while ;D

Riddle (A):
Let's make this a little more interesting: in stead of asking the next number I ask of you the limit of this row:

1
11
21
1112
3112
211213
312213
???

(There is a slightly easier version of this riddle too, if no-ne gets this, i'll post the other one first)

Re:Riddles

Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2002 4:49 am
by CESS.tk
The easier one:
I'll name this riddle (B):

What is the next number? (Since this row does not have a limit (might this be a hint? i don't think it'll help you, but it might))

1
11
21
1211
111221
312211
13112221
???

PS: I edited riddle (A) a bit.
PPS: Anyone can answer now.
PPPS: HINT: Try reading the numbers out loud.

Re:Riddles

Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2002 1:37 pm
by smartguy240
41223311?

Re:Riddles

Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2002 4:58 pm
by Zonkie
For (A) : 6? (What do you exactly mean by limit?)

For (B) : 1111333211 ?

Re:Riddles

Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2002 3:42 am
by CESS.tk
Both wrong.
By limit I mean that if you'll keep completing the list at some point the same number will be coming back over and over again. It'll be something like this:

1
2
3
4
5
5
5
5
5
...

And the limit would be 5.

Re:Riddles

Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2002 1:40 pm
by CESS.tk
Here's the solution to (B):[pre] 1 = one 1 = 11
11 = two 1's = 21
21 = one 2, one 1 = 1211
1211 = one 1, one 2, two 1's = 111221
111221 = three 1's, two 2's, one 1 = 312211
312211 = one 3, one 1, two 2's, 2 one's = 13112221
13112221 = one 1, one 3, two 1's, three 2's, one 1[/pre]
So the correct answer is 1113213211

With this information, riddle (A) shouldn't be too hard anymore.