# for smart heads: puzzle



## Zammy-Sam (Jun 21, 2004)

Two blondes are sitting in a street cafe, talking about the children. One says that she has three daughters. The product of their ages equals 36 and the sum of the ages coincides with the number of the house across the street. The second blonde replies that this information is not enough to figure out the age of each child. The first agrees and adds that the oldest daughter has the beautiful blue eyes. Then the second solves the puzzle. You might solve it too!
 ::angel::


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## mi5moav (Jun 21, 2004)

The two blondes aren't women they are husband and wife.


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## Zammy-Sam (Jun 21, 2004)

because both should know how old the children are since it seems impossible to find the age of them? 
Nope. They are two non-lesbian women even. Try harder!  There is a very logical solution for this.


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## mi5moav (Jun 21, 2004)

two, dos, novem


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## Zammy-Sam (Jun 21, 2004)




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## brianleahy (Jun 21, 2004)

Wording is crucial here.  Talking about "the" children.  Hm.  

I'm going to assume that the 2nd blonde is NOT one of the daughters. What mother would throw a weird riddle at her own daughter, concerning her siblings...

The oldest daughter could be anywhere from 36 (if the other 2 were 1-year old twins) to 4 (with 3-year old twins).  The sums range from 10 to 38.    Even 38 is an awfully low number for a street address - is that a clue?  They are somewhere with low street numbers.   Hmm.

The fact that both women are (still) blonde probably rules out a 36-year old daughter; the mother of a 36-year old might well be going gray.   This probably means the oldest daughter is 18, max (other two being 2 and 1).

Most streets have odd street numbers on one side, and even on the other.   If we knew the street # of the cafe, we could deduce whether the house # across the street is odd or even....

Still thinking here.


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## Zammy-Sam (Jun 21, 2004)

Brian, good shot. You are pretty close! There is just one info you are ignoring and you will need to include..
And your assumption is right: those blonds are just friends.


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## bobw (Jun 21, 2004)

13


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## mi5moav (Jun 21, 2004)

If anyone could read latin and spanish the answer is already posted. There are only two answers that it could be with the first part of the question answering the fact that she can save on birthday parties. The second part shows that the family ran into some financial problems since they didn't conceive again as quickly as they could or she got divorced and remarried.

zwei, deux, dévyat


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## brianleahy (Jun 21, 2004)

Ok (SPOILERS)

2, 2, and 9.   But what's the reasoning?   Just numbers isn't an answer; you could GUESS that.   Why does this answer work better than (for instance) 4, 3 and 3?

I know some kids have blue eyes when young, and their eyes later change to another color (it happened to me), but that's not reliable - there are adults with blue eyes too.

And: There is NO mention of birthday parties in Zammy's original riddle.


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## scruffy (Jun 21, 2004)

Ah, gotcha - they're 2, 2, and 9.  The only number across the street that could be insufficient information would be 13 - that could correspond to 2,2,9 or 1,6,6.  The fact that there is one  eldest daughter means it must be the former.

Actually, not really - the two six year olds could have been born under a year apart, and they'd still have the same numerical age for part of each year.  I once dated a girl that was born one day before me.  So, for 364 days of every year we have the same 'age' (when rounded down to an integer of years), but she's always older than me...


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## brianleahy (Jun 21, 2004)

> The only number across the street that could be insufficient information would be 13 - that could correspond to 2,2,9 or 1,6,6.



Hm,  I guess I failed to consider that the blonde sitting there _would_ have information that we DON'T -- she'd be able to SEE the number of the house across the street.  I was working from the assumption that we knew everything she did - not so.


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## mi5moav (Jun 21, 2004)

Because she says her oldest child has blue eyes(singular)  So, the oldest child can not be twins... 3, 3 and 4 can not equal the sum... the sum is 13 the product is 36....3, 3, and 4 would be 10 wouldn't work.


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## brianleahy (Jun 21, 2004)

mi5moav said:
			
		

> Because she says her oldest child has blue eyes(singular)  So, the oldest child can not be twins... 3, 3 and 4 can not equal the sum... the sum is 13 the product is 36....3, 3, and 4 would be 10 wouldn't work.



Yeah, I get it now.  At first I didn't see how we would know the sum is 13.  

Now I do.


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## mi5moav (Jun 21, 2004)

Bob & Joe live far apart and need to secretly communicate. They send messages only in a chained up locked box. Anything sent without it being in the locked box
will be opened.  Each has their own unique padlock and their own unique key (no duplicate keys/padlocks allowed). How can you send messages without someone else opening the box.(the chain can not be cut and links reatached since you still couldn't open the locks with the other persons key)


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## brianleahy (Jun 21, 2004)

Bob puts his lock on the box & sends it to Joe.
Joe adds his own lock to the box, and sends it back to Bob.
Bob removes his lock and sends the box back to Joe.
Joe removes his lock and reads the message.


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## mi5moav (Jun 21, 2004)

very good


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## mi5moav (Jun 21, 2004)

santa, the easter bunny and sober irishman are getting their teeth cleaned, when the  Dentist gasps I must be dreaming? Why


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## Zammy-Sam (Jun 21, 2004)

Very good everyone! It took me much longer till I got it


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## mi5moav (Jun 21, 2004)

My two favorite blonde jokes...

Two blondes were walking down the road and the first blonde says, "Look at that dog with one eye!" The other blonde covers one of her eyes and says, "Where?"

A blonde is walking down the street with her blouse open and her right breast hanging out. A policeman approaches her and says, "Ma'am, are you aware I could cite you for indecent exposure?" She says, "Why, officer?" "Because your breast is exposed." "Oh My God," says the blonde, "I left the baby on the bus!"


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## brianleahy (Jun 21, 2004)

Two guys go to a lumber yard.   

One guy tells the clerk "We need some two-by-fours"

The clerk says "Okay, how _long_ do you need them?"

The two guys discuss this for a minute, then one says to the clerk: "A very long time.  We're building a house."


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## scruffy (Jun 21, 2004)

A cop pulls Heisenberg over for speeding.

The cop says "Do you know how fast you were going, sir?"

Heisenberg answers "No, but I know where I am"


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## brianleahy (Jun 21, 2004)

LOL!  Bravo scruffy, THAT is an intellectual joke.


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## Zammy-Sam (Jun 22, 2004)

lol! true


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## TommyWillB (Jun 22, 2004)

Math is hard...

[[ and continuing the Barbie bimbo theme ]]

Who's Heisenberg?


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## Zammy-Sam (Jun 23, 2004)

He is a very famous physicist who got very famous with the uncertainty relations:
the theory that it is impossible to measure both energy and time (or position and momentum) completely accurately at the same time. 
Check here for more info


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