In a little town in West Michigan lives a math professor, who hears one day that the barber has three children. So, on the next visit to the barber, the professor casually inquires, "I have heard you have three children, is that right?" "Yes!" says the barber. "Well, how old are they?" "You are the math professor, aren't you? I tell you, if you multiply the ages of the three, you'll end up with 36." "All right!" the professor answers and walks home. The next day the professor comes back to the barber shop and says: "With the information you have given me, it is impossible to figure out how old your kids are." Then the barber says: "Very good, I see you are a good mathematician. If you add the ages of the three, the sum will be the number of my house." So, the professor walks out, looks at the house number and returns home. Still the professor can't find the solution. The next day, the professor tells the barber that there still must be some information that's missing. "Yes, you are very clever!" says the barber. "The next information I'm giving you is the last word I'm saying about the age of my children. Now you will have enough information. Don't come back again and ask for more. The youngest has blonde hair." The professor goes home and figures out the answer.

Question

In a little town in West Michigan lives a math professor, who hears one day that the barber has three children. So, on the next visit to the barber, the professor casually inquires, "I have heard you have three children, is that right?" "Yes!" says the barber. "Well, how old are they?" "You are the math professor, aren't you? I tell you, if you multiply the ages of the three, you'll end up with 36." "All right!" the professor answers and walks home. The next day the professor comes back to the barber shop and says: "With the information you have given me, it is impossible to figure out how old your kids are." Then the barber says: "Very good, I see you are a good mathematician. If you add the ages of the three, the sum will be the number of my house." So, the professor walks out, looks at the house number and returns home. Still the professor can't find the solution. The next day, the professor tells the barber that there still must be some information that's missing. "Yes, you are very clever!" says the barber. "The next information I'm giving you is the last word I'm saying about the age of my children. Now you will have enough information. Don't come back again and ask for more. The youngest has blonde hair." The professor goes home and figures out the answer.

What are the ages of the barber's children, and how did the professor figure it out?

Ive narrowed down the answers to
2, 3, and 6
9, 2, and 3

Firstly, because according to BobPursley, a kid whos 1 cannot have blonde hair, meaning noones one. Than the brothers and sisters cant be the same age, and that narrows it down to those 2 answers. Now how can I find the final answer?

Answer 1

How can it be 9,2, and 3? It has to multiply to 36.

Answer 2

Sorry, :)

Its late here.

So that leaves...

2, 3, and 6?

I just wanna know how we can prove the blonde kid cant be 1.

Answer 3

The other alternative set is 1,3,12; an alternative to 2,3,6. Hair is usually reserved for two year olds. I doubt if you can Prove it.

Answer 4

So we can just going to assume its 2, 3, and, 6?

Answer 5

If its the youngest child who's hair color is given, the solution is {1,6,6}

it has nothing to do with the actual hair color, but with mentioning that there exists a unique youngest (or oldest) child to remove the ambiguity in the two age sets with identical sums (i.e. {1,6,6} and {2,2,9) )

all other age sets have a unique sum

Answer 6

To find the final answer for the ages of the barber's children, we need to consider the information provided and narrow down the possibilities. Let's review the clues given in the problem:

1. The product of the ages is 36.
2. The sum of the ages corresponds to the number of the barber's house.
3. The professor couldn't determine the ages initially, suggesting that there is more than one possible combination of ages with the given information.
4. The last clue states that the youngest child has blonde hair.

First, let's find all the possible combinations of ages that multiply to 36:

1 x 1 x 36 = 36
1 x 2 x 18 = 36
1 x 3 x 12 = 36
1 x 4 x 9 = 36
1 x 6 x 6 = 36
2 x 2 x 9 = 36
2 x 3 x 6 = 36
3 x 3 x 4 = 36

Next, let's consider the clue that the professor couldn't determine the ages just based on the product of 36. This means there must be multiple combinations with the same product.

Now, let's focus on the clue that the professor couldn't determine the ages after considering the sum of their ages. This implies that there must be more than one possible sum of ages among the combinations we found.

Considering all these clues together, let's analyze the two possible combinations you mentioned: 2, 3, and 6 and 9, 2, and 3.

According to the additional clue that the youngest child has blonde hair, we can eliminate the combination that includes a child aged 2 if we assume that children with blonde hair are younger than those without blonde hair.

Therefore, the only remaining solution is the combination 2, 3, and 6. The ages of the barber's children are 2, 3, and 6.

To summarize, the professor was able to figure out the ages of the barber's children by considering the product of their ages, the sum of their ages, and the clue about the youngest child having blonde hair. By systematically narrowing down the possibilities based on the given information, the professor was able to determine the correct ages.