When First the Marriage Knot was Ty'd (Posted on 2004-12-02)
This riddle comes from a book entitled "The American Tutor's Assistant", dated 1791.
When first the marriage knot was ty’d
Between my wife and me,
My age was to that of my bride
As three times three to three
But now when ten and half ten years,
We man and wife have been,
Her age to mine exactly bears,
As eight is to sixteen;
Now tell, I pray, from what I’ve said,
What were our ages when we wed?
I'm sorry to say that another possible answer would be that the wife was 5 and the man was 25! Then 15 years later the wife would be 20 and the man 40! That wouldn't be plausible in real life but numetrically it is possible.