536 Puzzles and Curious Problems

Problem 42 Solution
Vi Tran
Winter 2011
Problem 42: A correspondent, in 1930, proposed the following ques-
tion. The reader may think, at rst sight, that there is insucient data for
an answer, but he will be wrong: A mans age at death was one twenty-ninth
of the year of his birth. How old was he in the year 1900?
Proposed Solution: He was 44 in the year 1900.
Proof :
For sake of brevity we omit the unit of years. Let Z be the set of all
integers, Y
B
be the year of the mans birth, Y
D
be the year of the mans
death, A
D
be the mans age at death, and A
1900
be the mans age in the
year 1900. We will show that A
1900
= 44 Notice that Y
B
, Y
D
, A
D
, A
1900
Z
since they all represent years or ages. Notice also that given the wording
of the problem, we can assume or are given that Y
B
< 1900 < Y
D
, that
Y
B
29
= A
D
, that 0 < A
1900
< A
D
=
Y
B
29
, that A
1900
= 1900 Y
B
, that
1900 < Y
D
< 1930, and that Y
D
= Y
B
+A
D
. We proceed through proof by
a lemma.
Lemma 1: If we have problem 42, then the man died in the year 1920.
Proof: Since Y
D
= Y
B
+ A
D
, A
D
=
Y
B
29
, and 29 = 0, we have that
by multiplication, 29A
D
= Y
B
and thus by substitution that Y
D
= 29A
D
+
A
D
= 30A
D
. But since Y
D
= 30A
D
, and A
D
, Y
D
Z, Y
D
mod
30
= 0.
So, since 1900 < Y
D
< 1930, 1890 mod
30
= 0, and 1950 mod
30
= 0, by
properties of the integers, Y
D
mod
30
= 0 implies that Y
D
= 1920. Thus
the man died in the year 1920.
Theorem 1: If we have problem 42, then the man was 44 in the year
1900.
Proof: As stated earlier, we want to show that A
1900
= 44. Since
Y
B
29
= A
D
and since Y
D
= Y
B
+ A
D
implies A
D
= Y
D
Y
D
, we have by
transitivity of equality that
Y
B
29
= A
D
= Y
D
Y
B
, and thus by multiplica-
tion and distribution that Y
B
= 29Y
D
29Y
B
. By addition and division, we
have that Y
B
=
29Y
D
30
. Since A
1900
= 1900 Y
B
, we have by substitution
that A
1900
= 1900
29Y
D
30
. Since we are given the same paramaters and as-
sumptions as in Lemma 1, by Lemma 1, we have that Y
D
= 1920. Thus,
A
1900
= 1900
29(1920)
30
= 1900 1856 = 44. Thus the man was 44 in the
year 1900.
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