This summer Charissa has read some amazing books (Endurance, Give Me My Father's Body, etc.). Currently, she's reading In Code by Sarah Flannery.
I believe my father will be the first person to solve The Insurance Man Problem as presented in said code book:
An insurance salesman knocks at the door and is greeted by the mother of the home. The salesman wants to know the ages of her children, but the mother is reluctant to divulge this personal information, so she says, "The product of their three ages is 36."
Confused, the salesman asks for a bit more. "The sum of their ages is the same as the neighbor's house number."
Still not completely sure, he asks for one more hint. "The eldest plays the piano." And then he knew.
So how old are the children?
(I hope I told this correctly.)
Car Talk fans should have this worked out in no time!
8 comments:
Wait... do they live on the east or west side of the road?
Too funny.
The book has a number of mind games like this one that Mr. Flannery used to develop the minds of his offspring.
to solve it put the possible factors in one column and the sums in another. maybe the product in a third. just for completeness.
if you list it, it will come.
Well done! Clear thinking wins again.
Dad just emailed me with the correct answer. Good work.
my brain hurts
42 is the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.
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