A mother and her friend are talking about how many chidren they have. The friend knows how many daughters the mother has, but doesn't know how many sons she has. The mother says:

"All of my children have the same amount of brothers and the same amount of sisters as the other children."

Now the friend knew how many sons she had. How many sons did the mother have?

x=sons
y=daughters

if all siblings have same number of brothers and sisters as the others then:
x-1=y-1 --> x=y

in order to solve for x and y there needs to be and equation to compare it to, in this case we have three
1)x<y or x>y which does not work because the = sign canot be compared to a < or > sign. how can sumthing be equal to yet greater than or less than at the same time? i'll tell u, it can't
2)x=0 and y=0 which may work mathematically, but technically how can she be a mother w/o having any kids? if u think she still is a mother even tho she has no kids, then this does indeed work, but that's ur call
3)x=0 or y=0 this is the correct answer because it is the only one that works mathematically and logically.

the mother either has no sons or no daughters

Posted by A on 2003-10-26 00:44:24