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From: ins_aaaw@jhunix.UUCP (Adlai A. Waksman)
Newsgroups: net.puzzle
Subject: Re: A "logic puzzle" (actually another puzzle)
Message-ID: <1645@jhunix.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 29-Jan-86 16:04:19 EST
Article-I.D.: jhunix.1645
Posted: Wed Jan 29 16:04:19 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 1-Feb-86 04:19:50 EST
References: <292@watdragon.UUCP>
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Organization: TARDIS Repairs Inc.
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Here's a puzzle I heard in high school.  It's quite similar to the one
Alec Saunders posted.

			THE CENSUS-TAKER'S PROBLEM
		    (or, the Chocolate Pudding Puzzle)

	A census taker was interviewing a man at the door of his house.
He soon asked, "Do you have any children?"
	"Yes, three daughters."
	"How old are they?"
	Now the man, being a bit of an eccentric, decided to pose the
answer in the form of a puzzle.  "The product of their ages is 72, and
the sum of their ages is the house number."
	The census taker produced a sheet of paper, did some arithmetic,
but finally gave up.
	"Oh, yes," the man recalled, "my oldest daughter likes chocolate
pudding."
	The census taker immediately knew the daughters' ages.

		WHAT ARE THEY?

	While you're at it, you can probably figure out the
	house number, as well as what chocolate pudding has
	to do with all this.

	NOTE:  Babies can like chocolate pudding, teenagers
	can like chocolate pudding, elderly women can like
	chocolate pudding.  Also, the man and his wife might
	have unbelievable longevity and fertility....

I'll post a spoiler in a week or so (unless someone beats me to it).

-- 
Adlai Waksman
Mathematical Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD  21218
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