The hostess, at her 20th wedding anniversary party, tells you that her youngest child likes her to pose this problem to guests, and she proceeds to explain: "I normally ask guests to determine the ages of my three children, given the sum and products of their ages. Since Smith gave an incorrect answer to the problem tonight and Jones gave an incorrect answer at the party two years ago, I'll let you off the hook."

Your response is "No need to tell me more, their ages are..."

(In reply to On second thought..... by Penny)

I agree with you that a 3 year old would not pose such questions. But it is the only possible combination as the question says "youngest child" (so 8, 8 and 18 would not hold good).

Also, if we consider that she has childern from earlier marriage then their is no point in why the question should mention 20th wedding aniversary. I think that is provided to give the upper bound for the ages of childern.

Thw question mentions youngest child likes her to pose this problem. May the child is just interested whether the guest can guess his age right or not. Its important to connect the yougest child to question so that ages all three childern are included.

Posted by Sachin on 2005-03-05 19:14:58