Here's a math puzzle for a change of pace. No fair writing a
computer program to brute-force the answer out--it shouldn't take
more than a pencil, paper, and about 20 minutes.
Scott
On a fine sunny afternoon at the zoo, a visitor was admiring the three
giant tortoises snoozing in the sun. "Did you know that these
tortoises can live up to 150 years?" asked a zookeeper.
"No," replied the visitor. "How old are these?"
"That would be too easy!" exclaimed the zookeeper. "How old are you?"
When the visitor told him, he thought for a moment, then said "The sum
of their ages is four times your age, and the product of their ages is
3150."
The visitor went and sat down on a park bench, and calculated for a
bit. Coming back to where the zookeeper was still puttering around,
she said, "You didn't give me enough information."
"Well," said the zookeeper, "only one of the tortoises is older than
you."
"Aha!" cried the visitor. "Then I know how old they are."
How old are the tortoises, and how old is the visitor? Note: All of
the ages are integers. (No one in the puzzle is 23.47546 years old,
or anything like that...)
Scott
Scott Gardner
gardner@lwcomm.com
www.lwcomm.com/~gardner
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