Problem: One day while Mr.

Smith was raking leaves in his front lawn, the mailman came by to deliver the morning mail. He handed three letters to Mr. Smith; each was addressed to a different daughter. I see you have three daughters, said the mailman. How old are they by now? Well, said Mr. Smith with a twinkle in his eye, I'll give you two clues. The product of their ages is 36, and the sum of their ages is the number on the house across the street. The mailman thought for a moment, wrinkled his brow and said, Sorry, but I'll need another clue. Oh, I'm terribly sorry, said Mr. Smith, I forgot to mention that the oldest is a blond! Ah ha! said the mailman with a smile. Thanks! Give them my love. And he trudged down the street. The mailman correctly deduced the three daughters ages. Can you? Solution: Theres a mailman on his appointed route thats talking to a man. The mailman asks what the ages of the mans daughters currently are. The man refuses to give the ages, but instead offers hints. His first hint is that the product of each of their ages is 36. The possibilities, therefore, are, 1, 1, 36 1, 2, 18 1, 3, 12 1, 4, 9 1, 6, 6 2, 2, 9 2, 3, 6 3, 3, 4 His next hint is that the sum of their ages is the house number across the street. In the same order, the sums are, 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 + 1 + 36 = 38 + 2 + 18 = 21 + 3 + 12 = 16 + 4 + 9 = 14 + 6 + 6 = 13 + 2 + 9 = 13 + 3 + 6 = 11 + 3 + 4 = 10

Youll notice that all of the numbers are distinct except for 13. As you can see, the 13s correspond to the ages 1, 6, 9 and 2, 2, 9. This is the ambiguity and the reason why the mailman needed his final clue. The last hint is that the oldest is a blonde. This eliminated 1, 6, 6, since there cannot be two oldest daughters. That leaves 2, 2, 9 as the age of the daughters.