The age of three daughters

[Marcelo Branco]

Two mathematicians meet and one of them:
- How old are your three daughters?

- The product of their age is 36

- Okay, but I need more information ...

The father, pointing to a house on the street, responds:
- The sum of the ages is equal to the number of that house.

- Hmm ... still can not know precisely how old they were ...

- The oldest dance ballet.

- Now I know how old they were, thank you!

You also know?

M.

 

[drsarao]

Two mathematicians meet and one of them:
- How old are your three daughters?

- The product of their age is 36

- Okay, but I need more information ...

The father, pointing to a house on the street, responds:
- The sum of the ages is equal to the number of that house.

- Hmm ... still can not know precisely how old they were ...

- The oldest dance ballet.

- Now I know how old they were, thank you!

You also know?

M.

Should be "Oldest is a ballet dancer"

 

[Al Chara]

The daughters' ages are 2, 2, and 9.

 

[drsarao]

Disregarding my "correction", if we take Marc's statement literally "The oldest dance ballet." (the verb 'dance' here is pleural!)
Then the answer would be 1, 6, 6!!

Over to Marc.

 

[Al Chara]

Disregarding my "correction", if we take Marc's statement literally "The oldest dance ballet." (the verb 'dance' here is pleural!)
Then the answer would be 1, 6, 6!!

Over to Marc.

I read this as the oldest daughter dances ballet, which would make the answer 2, 2, 9. If its the oldest daughters dance ballet, then you are right, the ages are 1, 6, 6.

 

[Jonmo1]

The sum of the ages is equal to the number of that house.

We also need to know the number of that house..

Answer could be
1 1 36
1 2 18
1 3 12
2 3 6

 

[JamesW]

Can someone explain the ballet relevance?

 

[Al Chara]

We also need to know the number of that house..

Answer could be
1 1 36
1 2 18
1 3 12
2 3 6

Not necessarily, we have to assume that the mathematician knows the number of the house. So if the house number clue wasn't enough, then the sum of the ages must be ambigous, hence the only acceptable answers are 1, 6, 6 or 2, 2, 9.

 

[Jonmo1]

Not necessarily, we have to assume that the mathematician knows the number of the house. So if the house number clue wasn't enough, then the sum of the ages must be ambigous, hence the only acceptable answers are 1, 6, 6 or 2, 2, 9.

Just because the house number wasn't enough information, doesn't mean it is not critical to the correct answer once more information was provided....

What is the point of adding the sentence about the house number to the riddle, if it is not part of the solution?

 

[TinaP]

Can someone explain the ballet relevance?

Ballet is a red herring. It could also be, "The oldest play piano." The true hint comes from the use of the noun, oldest, and the verb, dance. The oldest generally refers to a single person. However the verb, dance, implies that there are two, otherwise it would be dances. Because of this, the ages would be 6, 6, and 1.