"UNSOLVABLE" Logic Puzzle: What Are Their Ages?

[@srbeanman]

The census taker responds, “Really, my eldest prefers pie.” The mathematician says “now you are being irrational.”

[@reformed_attempt_1]

Lmao

[@pmLite_]

i want to like this comment but it has 314 likes so i have to keep it that way

[@rlee1185]

Underrated joke

[@violetquinnlaw]

the answers 17. 2x3=6 x12 =72 add up 2, 3, 12 you get 17

[@DanDart]

The census taker stares at the mathematician and says "I don't have time for this nonsense. Just tell me."

[@Seraholethysie]

Very true to life there.

[@ДмитрийЮдин-ю7я]

No you have to guess

[@ДмитрийЮдин-ю7я]

@PuraguCryostato That escalated very quickly

[@spencerhiginbotham7538]

That's every student who has ever asked a question to their math professors.

[@maddyi7545]

@@jamesmayle4712 uhuh

[@heliocentric1756]

The correct answer is: 1,1,72 of course

[@josephmackie8262]

I'm 72 and my dad is a 40 year old mathematician :D

[@Sam_on_YouTube]

+id523 I disagree. If that were the correct answer the census taker would assume the mathematician made a mistake long before assuming he adopted a 72- year old (which is the most likely of the various unlikely possible scenarios).

[@potato8363]

OMFG 72 LIKES

[@guldrev]

+Heliocentric either the most sexually active...or least sexually active man on earth

[@rogerdickens6218]

+Heliocentric Nope.

[@scotthaggerty7755]

"The product of my children's ages is 72 and the sum of their ages is my house number," "Sir this is a Wendy's"

[@bait5257]

😂😂

[@themachine9000]

Reference to the show that will remain unnamed?

[@JazzyB9481]

😂😂

[@donywihartanto5943]

🤣

[@FreakinFred08]

“Larry, I’m on DuckTales.”

[@Vex-MTG]

Yeah, I don't like that assumption at all. "My oldest child loves chocolate chip cookies" only implies that one is older, not that they have distinct year ages.

[@hennman]

Right. Children can be born less than one year apart. Not a fan of this riddle.

[@SuperShadowify]

yup, agreed. if one has a 9YO and two 3YOs, i’m pretty sure it’d be said that “my oldest is 9”

[@Idran]

But there's also the implicit meta-assumption that the extra point was directly helpful for finding the solution, which means that it isn't meant to be a trick in that way.

[@randomcat5262]

Yeah the concept of an older sibling in a pair of twins exists

[@georgeweller1]

Twins aren’t born at the exact same moment. Literally EVERY set of twins will constantly talk about how many hours or minutes older the other is.

[@rhandeymaahrsch2151]

Census taker: "What are the ages of your children" Mathematician: "solve this riddle" Census taker: "here’s your court date for obstruction of the census" Mathematician:

[@lorefox201]

:(

[@cgamejewels]

🤣

[@dannyluo2077]

That’s so funny

[@bombasticbrian.]

I thought the answer was 288 and 1/2 and 1/2

[@tombatterson7942]

+Patient Because that adds up to 72

[@bombasticbrian.]

+Falax Scavenger it MULTIPLIES to 72, doesn't have to add to

[@PlasteredDragon]

+Patient Zero I hope I can still eat cookies when I am 288.

[@bombasticbrian.]

+PlasteredDragon I'm sure there's a way

[@fateisuponyou]

Omg lawl

[@anythinganyway8923]

Census taker: ages? Mathematician: here's a riddle for ya, son Census taker: just shut the f up i ain't got no time

[@e2theeyepie]

As a Math professor, this is EXACTLY what I would feel if I was the census taker.

[@anythinganyway8923]

@@e2theeyepie I think it's really cool to be working as a math professor, isn't it?

[@rohinineelamraju6919]

Would be me😁

[@Jotakumon]

How it really went: Census taker: "What are the ages of your children?" Mathematician: "The product of their ages is 72, while their sum is the house number." Census taker: "How am I supposed to get that?" Mathematician: "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot: my oldest child likes chocolate cookies." Census taker: "Yeah, okay, I got it now." writes down 1,2,3 "Ain't nobody got time for this."

[@sanjanayoganand4476]

Yess 😂😭

[@cgamejewels]

or just asks the kids. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@littlestonesadventures3939]

Then their data is ruined; their loss😂😂😂

[@pickleism253]

1,1,72 The oldest one is Joe Biden (Riddle took place in 2014)

[@alessandromarchetti2766]

The answer is 648, 1/27, 3, and the house number is approximately 651.037

[@YSFmemories]

that's a bit old for someone to still like chocolate chip cookies, don't you think?

[@Beerfazz]

@@YSFmemories at that age they start liking them again. Or so I heard

[@GOLDEditNinja]

the only correct answer

[@teambellavsteamalice]

The kids are 4, 5-√7 and 5+√7. House number is still 14... 😁

[@crazydog1750]

@@YSFmemoriesSanta still eats chocolate chip cookies, what are you talking about?

[@kevinsullwold2388]

Maybe he said he couldn't figure it out because he didn't feel like spending ten minutes working out all the possibilities as opposed to telling the mathematician to just give him the damn answer.

[@fuseteam]

there's only 3 possibilities from his perspective :p

[@marioghioneto1275]

Well, I took 1 minute to figure it out so... yeah

[@happinesstan]

@@fuseteam Given that he knows the house number, I'd say there is only one possibility, from his perspective.

[@fuseteam]

@@happinesstan ehhhh?

[@happinesstan]

@@fuseteam I wasn't considering twins. I mean I was. I just ignored myself when making this comment as I couldn't be bothered to work it out for twins.

[@EnergeticWaves]

I like cookies, guess my age

[@tk4073]

4?

[@DuskySHARKtheONEandONLY]

8?

[@rebia5542]

29? lol

[@semir7]

Potato and half a tomato

[@george198four]

13

[@hessylaguna5415]

i got it! Before watching the video. The mathematician has 3 kids the oldest one likes chocolate chip cookies. This means that the oldest child is a pleb and can't be older than 9. No one has 3 children when they realize that the first one is a filthy casual. This means that during the second pregnancy he decided not to have anymore children. So why then does he have 3 kids? Well the answer is simple, he had twins! On average it takes around 5 years to notice just how plebish your son or daughter has turned out. so the difference between the twins and the eldest child is 5. this means that the possible combinations are: 1, 1, 6 2, 2, 7 3, 3, 8 or 4, 4, 9 the only combination there that multiplies to 72 is 3, 3, 8 meaning that the guys house number is 14. and the age of his 3 children are 3 3 and 8.

[@hessylaguna5415]

Wow he solved it weird but whatever, same answer. ezpz lemon sqz

[@jamalmcelroy]

My solution was 6,4,3 and the house number is 13 3×4=12 12×6=72

[@mimibee409]

+Jamal McElroy yeah, but after he got all the possible combos he said he still couldn't figure it out (because there was 2 identical answers...that is 14). that's why the house number had to be 14. and the last piece of info about the eldest kid came in.

[@jamalmcelroy]

+Shameema Bhyat Thanks! But I already knew. I just wanted to say I was wrong😂😂😂

[@mimibee409]

+Jamal McElroy hehe , apologies Jamal ;-)

[@ironcito1101]

I once tried testing a census taker with this riddle. He ate my liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.

[@rk-wy8pu]

My regards to the good doctor.

[@tozmom615]

It’s so annoying when that happens. I don’t know how many livers I’ve lost this way.

[@ethanlivemere1162]

*slurp slurp slurp*

[@pzcat227]

That's creepy

[@davidmaggiesmith9758]

@@pzcat227Good evening, r/woooooosh

[@holden_tld]

census taker: how old are your kids? math nerd: here's a riddle that'll answer that. census taker: sir i have a thousand houses to get to, i'm just gonna put down that you have three cats.

[@navneetmishra3208]

you f*cked up my screen

[@hermimonk2748]

1. Intake riddle. 2. Ponder riddle. 3. Get frustrated. 4. Unpause video. 5. After 5 seconds, suddenly realize a vital piece of info, just before it's said in the video. 6. Continue solving. 7. Hit another roadblock. 8. Move mouse cursor over unpause button. 9. Get another burst of inspiration and solve the riddle. 10. Write comment detailing method taken to solve riddle.

[@hermimonk2748]

***** Oh yes. Apologies.

[@ramenfromthemoon9024]

+Hermi Monk ahahahahah

[@margaretd3710]

11. Go eat chocolate chip cookies.

[@LuvableShannon]

Well... I mean, congrats to everyone who did figure it out. But the whole concept of one child being the oldest means no other child can be the same age is a huge stretch. You can't definitively say no parent doesn't refer to an older twin as "the oldest", and absolutely any parent would refer to a child 9 months older than another as "the oldest". So... it's still completely possible that the answer is 2, 6, 6, and the father was just hoping the census guy knew a good cookie recipe.

[@cigmorfil4101]

Especially if the mathematician specialises in Chaos Theory - butterflies wings are nothing compared to the duration of labour On pair of twins I knew were very specific about who was older.

[@Daikael]

my solution was 9,4, and 2... assuming no twins (so no 6,6 or 3,3) and nobody was born directly after one another (no 9,8,1)

[@chrisamadei2565]

@@Daikael 9,4,2 doesn't work. There would be no need for another clue if the ages added up to 15.

[@Blurrybob]

I think you're kind of person who looks for dirt under nails. General knowledge agrees against your reasoning so the answer is that. Also, disagreeing a general knowledge doesn't make anyone an interesting person, rather a weird person.

[@konstantinschafer9750]

@Shananananon You are completely right but the thing with the ages doesn't really matter since the mathematician wanted to create a creative unique answer. If one of the 6 year olds could be referred to be the oldest, then the answer wouldn't be unique anymore. Another argument could be that the census wouldn't get any new information of the word "oldest" if "2, 6, 6" is a possible answer. I'd say that the info "mathematician" is crucial.

[@collectionofatoms1876]

Here I was overthinking it from the thumbnail: What's the house number? IDK What's the oldest son loving chocolate chip cookies have to do with anything? IDK The writers want me to do some lateral thinking with the way this is written I bet! Are there any notable cookie eaters that I know their address? Oh what! There actually is! The cookie monster lives at 123 Sesame St. So if their ages are A, B, and C then: A+B +C = 123 ABC = 72 Plug those into wolfram. Glad I didn't spend 2 pages solving that by hand. Whew! A real solution exists! Their ages must be 69.3362, 1.3319, 1.3319! Is it just true that cookie monster is the oldest one on Sesame St? I don't know they all seem to be different species from one another!? Maybe they experience time differently and this is a "dog years" sort of age keeping. Still kind of weird to think that the cookie monster would be that much older. I mean that's a huge delta between 69.3362 and 1.3319. Is this consistent with Sesame St. canon?

[@rachelrodriguez1759]

This is a much better solution than the one given in the video, lol.

[@lorenz8265]

Your solution would work for ABC = 123 and A+B+C = 72

[@jondolar64]

Wolfram doesn't know how to do simple multiplication.

[@collectionofatoms1876]

​@@jondolar64 Apparently I don't know how to input and am not diligent enough :P The actual answer is that no real solutions exist However: A≈121.46 + 1.42109×10^-14 i, B≈0.769927 - 7.10543×10^-15 i, C≈0.769927 - 7.10543×10^-15 i is a only solution who's real components imply an oldest child. And you know, maybe it makes sense that the sesame street cast has an imaginary component to their age since they're imaginary characters...

[@Khrayfish]

The problem is, Cookie Monster's age has never been officially revealed, so this puzzle isn't actually possible.

[@robertbeste]

I thought this was going to be a pun based on the chocolate chip cookie detail... because one eight nine of them.... Dad Jokes > Math.

[@margaretd3710]

I like your reasoning lots better than the "correct" answer!!

[@cringe4021]

LOL

[@pynn1000]

"Groan joke". Love it.

[@indigoziona]

Often joke answers annoy me but this is gold :D

[@Silent1Flame]

This is the one. The truly correct answer 😭

[@martincohn3448]

I can imagine the obsesive mathematician talking to his wife: "ok dear, in 9 years time there will be a census. we need to have a child by next year and then twins in 6 years time. be aware that if we don't have twins I will have to seek a second woman to have my child/ren, so they all have the right age"

[@championred3619]

No need to find another woman, just conceive another child in 9 months, simple!

[@jondolar64]

But they lived in an apartment, so they had to find a house as well (one not in Reseda or the math wouldn't work).

[@eiyukabe]

@@championred3619 If he's allowed to do that, then 2, 6, 6 is a valid answer.

[@Romashka_Sov]

More like: "- Census will come next year, and i want to move to this specific house! - But why? - You'll see"

[@Tudsamfa]

I solved it, but not by trying to justify "oh, oldest child means it is uniquely" with logic, but by just assuming this is magical math land again, where cows may be spheres and friction and air resistance don't exist, and apparently there isn't an older twin there either.

[@JohnSmith-rg9mh]

What person has twins at 1 and a 72 year old son or daughter

[@lauren1731]

Me

[@drdoomzorz]

dirty dirty centenarians (or people close to)

[@dylandickie2013]

the Japanese

[@diamondsmasher]

Someone older than 72.

[@MrHood1313]

John Smith "That thought is rediculous," is the most harmful concept in all of science. Open your mind to every possibility, or you will never discover anything.

[@HyLion]

For this to happen, we have to assume that the mathematician was just bored one day and realized that the sum of his kids' ages was his house number for some reason.

[@elijahbryce9526]

No, he just has to move three times a year.

[@jeffc820]

@@elijahbryce9526 Just twice a year. Remember, he has twins! 😄

[@AndyLundeen]

This is not an unreasonable assumption, my dad is always thinking about what he can do with our ages to make some kind of interesting insight lol

[@Codisrocks]

People notice things like that.

[@anthonybenci9035]

*product

[@DexM47]

The riddle also works when the product is 36 instead of 72 by the way ;) (The solution is different, the answer being 2,2,9, but the principle is the same.)

[@jamesgrant3343]

‘I can’t work it out’ didn’t tell me that the census taker had perfectly calculated and concluded there were two possible options, it told me the the census worker wasn’t able to tackle the problem. I went for 1,1,72 - and why not, a very Ronny Wood solution!

[@J7Handle]

You forgot to mention that the census taker is a perfect logician. Or are we just meant to assume that detail?

[@52gt]

Nothing indicates he is a perfect logician. But the video certainly does indicate he is smart enough to figure it out as it clearly says he did figure it out. Did you miss that?

[@ljss6805]

@@52gt Well whatever, the question and answer provided here both have problems. Put another way, they're both critically flawed.

[@davidporter671]

No you’d have to include he’s an imperfect logician or else he would have gotten it when he had the two combinations left. This riddle blows.

[@waynelin6238]

@@davidporter671 Why do you say he would have gotten it then?

[@davidporter671]

@@waynelin6238 Nvm I had the order of everything wrong.

[@whyyeseyec]

A census worker could not solve this problem...

[@keriezy]

😂

[@softwaredeveloper6791]

I was a census worker and not one person gave me a smart-ass answer like the one in this puzzle. If they had, and I wasn't amenable to the mathematician, I would simply acknowledge that the respondent neglected to give an answer and instead posed a math-teaser, and they could be liable for a fine for a hundred dollars. Unfortunately, since the government hasn't prosecuted non-response since 1970, the mathematician would likely get off this time.

[@Fete_Fatale]

Exactly. Census workers are typically hired once every five or ten years from the ranks of the otherwise unemployed on the basis that; a) they can write legibly, b) can approximate a clean & tidy person, and c) can walk a few dozen blocks a day. They're not hired for their mathematical prowess or cookie counting skills. The mathematician was lucky to avoid a smack in the mouth.

[@52gt]

I refuse to give census info.

[@52gt]

Really. So lets hire you because you think it is OK to smack smart asses in the mouth. I hope you come to my door. After I dispatch of you for smacking me I will sue the feds. They have a lot of money.

[@hassanalihusseini1717]

Long before youtube it was "36" instead of "72", and his oldest daughter playing the piano....

[@ryansto7574]

exactly what I thought ;D

[@KopernikusGKK]

I read it first in the compuserve magazine... back in the days.

[@kishandey7322]

Hassan Ali Husseini i remember

[@medexamtoolscom]

Well, having a 72 year old child and 2 one year old children, his mind is probably mostly gone anyway.

[@Seraholethysie]

@ OC: That would make so much more sense.

[@Quintaner]

The assumption that by the mathematician saying "oldest child" that the oldest must have a distinct age is not a reasonable assumption, because not only do people refer to twins as the older and younger (my uncles are twins, and I have never once been confused if my dad refers to his "oldest brother"), but it is entirely possible to have children less than a year apart, leaving the possibility that they have the same age at the time of the census. So yes, I consider this problem unsolvable, because it relies on a bad assumption

[@dinobotpwnz]

The statement "you can solve this" is part of the reason why you can solve it...

[@frankfrank366]

Underappreciated comment

[@Yonkage]

Even among twins of the same age, one is still described as "older" if they were born first. So it could be the other answer. Also, I picked 1,1,72 because it's hilarious.

[@puckerings]

The mathematician is trying to give the census taker enough information to get the correct answer. Calling one of twins THE oldest would not help in arriving at the solution, so your objection doesn't stand.

[@yanc4237]

Yea thats exeactly how i end up being called to help out more. Im the older twin Somehow though, in the end my brother ends up helping out more than me😂

[@kmarasin]

Race: elf

[@choreomaniac]

How about 1/2, 1/2 and 288?

[@Hertog_von_Berkshire]

Imagine the planning necessary to achieve 1, 1, 72.

[@codebeard]

I think there is a better explanation of why the cookies information is not ambiguous. The mathematician says "of course", so he realises where the census taker has arrived in his deductions (house number 14, ages 2/6/6 or 3/3/8). It follows logically that he then gives the census taker enough information to solve the problem, otherwise he would have said some other clue! If his two eldest children were the same age, his given clue would be ambiguous at best and misleading at worst - so he would have to use a different clue in this case. Thus we can exclude the possibility that the two eldest children are the same age.

[@rumfordc]

+codebeard that does make more sense. thanks.

[@forthehunt3335]

+codebeard It's not conclusive though. There's nothing to prove that the census taker isn't stupid. 1/1/72 fills all of the given criteria, as do 2/4/9. Anything beyond that is implied at best, and implications are irrelevant.

[@rumfordc]

For the Hunt it would only have to be implied if they had not said "of course!"

[@alxjones]

+For the Hunt There's a convention that's usually explicitly stated, but sometimes simply implied, that in logic puzzles like this, all parties are infinitely logical, meaning that if there is a correct logical or mathematical solution, they will take it.

[@catprog]

@For the Hunt. In which case the house number would of been 74. Their is only one way to get 74. So their is no need for the additional clue.

[@TheDeuceofSpades]

When the census worker saw "Talwalkar" as the name of the family, he knew he was getting a riddle.

[@MatthewFearnley]

The thumbnail seems to be missing some important information: 1. You know my house number. 2. You need the information in my clue. (And no, my second eldest child is not the same age in years as my eldest.) But I like how cleverly the first two pieces of information are implied in the actual puzzle.

[@ironicdutchmoonshade]

I don't think "generally doesn't happen" is precise enough for a puzzle

[@Erkle64]

100% a logician or mathematician would never accept that. So clearly the census worker just figured "screw this, I'll make something up".

[@frankfrank366]

But the logic puzzle is telling you the census taker ultimately wrote down the correct ages. It doesn't say he used perfect logic to get there. Your job to solve the puzzle is to figure out the logic that the census taker used, even if it is not how everyone would think about it. There is no other plausible explanation as to why "the oldest kid loves cookies" would grant him an epiphany, so it's pretty obvious what assumptions the fictional character in the story was making.

[@olivertomkins503]

@@frankfrank366 maybe the census taker remembered the house number ended in a 3 (making the ages either 6/4/3 or 18/4/1) and reasoned from the cookies that the oldest kid probably wasn't 18. There's an equally plausible, equally fluffy and illogical explanation for his revelation. The puzzle doesn't work.

[@bradspring8115]

I kind of tuned out when he said, "this usually is the case" describing a LOGIC problem.

[@oscarjimenezgarrido7591]

He worded his reasoning badly, but the logic in the problem's enunciation is flawless. The mathematician adds the chocolate chip detail only after the censor tried to get an answer but got stuck on the bottleneck of two possible correct ones with the data he has - as he, unlike us, knows the house number -. The mathematician adds that detail fully knowing where the censor got stuck, and the phrasing makes clear that the added detail is meant to provide a definite solution to the riddle, so, if he had two eldest twins or children born during a period inferior to 12 months the added detail would be useless in order to determine the right answer.

[@eiyukabe]

@@oscarjimenezgarrido7591 "the censor tried to get an answer but got stuck on the bottleneck of two possible correct ones" No where in the puzzle is this conveyed. The census taker "thinks about it and replies he does not know." For all we know (and this is much more likely), he simply did not bother to deal with this BS. There are much better narrative decorations around the puzzle "find the pair of triplets of positive integers that multiply to 72 and then find the one triplet of these pairs with a distinct highest element." This puzzle as worded is absolutely terrible.

[@olivertomkins503]

@@oscarjimenezgarrido7591 The added detail is useless anyways. You are reasoning backwards from the assumption that the puzzle works to assert that the clue has to be sufficient to solve it, but it simply isn't. Kids of the same age in whole-years are not in fact the same age precisely, and one of them is always older.

[@DrZaius3141]

Withoug watching past 0:28 I'd say 8, 3, 3. House number is 14, but there are 2 options for that (6, 6, 2) and (8, 3, 3). The fact that there is one who is older than the others decides it. It should be noted however, that even with twins, there is always an elder one.

[@TheBloodsuger150]

I got it, but I'm still frustrated by the idea that someone who is nine months older couldn't be referred to as the 'eldest'. Plus, that children are 'unlikely' to be born close enough to be the age despite two being three in the solution.

[@LivingChords]

+Oliver Payne The younger children can be twins but there must be an oldest one.

[@henk6172]

I thought this was weird too, it's not a good riddle when you have to change how reality works to make the riddle work...

[@LivingChords]

Harm Prins How is that?

[@TheBloodsuger150]

+LivingChords fair point. However, I think you can agree his second assumption isn't probable. Or at least, it isn't beyond reasonable doubt?

[@LivingChords]

Oliver Payne You mean the assumption that his two oldest children havent been born in the same year? I find that pretty probable. who gives birth to two children in the same year?

[@AndrewMacLaine]

This is the first puzzle that has actually made me ANGRY. As a first-born fraternal twin myself, my parents (one of whom is a census taker!) regularly acknowledged me as the oldest child. It wouldn't be out of the norm for someone who is actively trying to be difficult to throw in a technicality to frustrate the census taker.

[@frankfrank366]

We're supposed to be mad at the fictional characters for being ridiculous, but they're just fictional characters. The puzzle itself is clever for inventing such weird people. The point of the puzzle is to figure out their ridiculous train of thought. When the story says that learning about the cookies gave him the answer, the ONLY explanation is that he considers twins to be the same age. The puzzle never even tries to say they are smart people or they have perfect logic or anything like that. It just says somehow the cookies gave him the answer and asks you to figure out how on earth that would happen.

[@cefrinaldi8060]

There are so many error to this puzzle. First the census taker had to already know the house number. Second, every twin always assign who is older and who is younger. You never knew if the parent also did that to distinguish which is older.

[@jacksainthill8974]

Sorry, but twins are not usually (if ever) born simultaneously. My guess is that most parents of twins will, on occasion, refer to one or the other as being the elder.

[@hiyas5555]

Some are born conjoined

[@jacksainthill8974]

Hiya S. Of course, thank you. I'm glad I said _not usually_, ;)

[@hiyas5555]

And I guess the mathematician just decided to go a bit easy on the census taker, so therefore oldest would be a distinct age

[@GetMeThere1]

Good point. The "eldest child" thing was a bit of a stretch -- especially because it was used as the central point of information (to decide it WAS a sum of 14, AND which of the two 14's it was). A bit much.

[@GetMeThere1]

Zach Bodi Yeah, thanks, I watched the video. I don't need somebody to repeat to me what was in the video.

[@lunamanceranimation]

I'll still love chocolate chip cookies at 72

[@sonalidasgupta3562]

"....he still does not know ...." It's incredible that NON-UNIQUENESS (of the Sum) was the clue....did not get that AT ALL

[@captainanu102]

The mathematician is just doing fun with the census. Mathematician: Tell me CENCUS : Shut up and just tell me you are a mathematician I am not

[@109267r]

If you have Twins, you can still say: my oldest child. Question is invalid.

[@ljss6805]

Come to think of it, this problem has infinite right solutions.

[@_modernmage]

Cool puzzle! I got to the list of possibilities, and then was stumped, because I completely forgot that I could take the census taker's reasoning into account. I love those sort of puzzles, where you have to think about what other people's thoughts mean. The chocolate chip cookies was a funny info burial.

[@markstahl1464]

Very clever. I missed the most important detail, that the census taker suddenly knew the answer at the end.

[@wealthelife]

I thought the census taker was just a bit slow, and then finally came up with the (wrong) answer! ;) ps. There is also an assumption that the mathematician was telling the truth....

[@robbiegrant927]

Twin here. The twin that came out first is virtually always considered the older child (even if they are only older by two minutes).

[@08anky]

after looking at the puzzle i realised that the census taker is a bigger mathematician than the mathematician himself.

[@xo801]

Hah! I knew it was 3, 3, 8!!!! Thank you, brain, for not realising there were combinations beside 3x3x8!! 😂

[@TheCakeMachine]

I'm honestly shocked that when the question was asked I was like "Oh it has to be 3, 3, 8." not even having a reason why

[@tgundy2296]

2,4,9 3,3,8 3,4,6 are all very possible. I understand the point about not referring to twins as "my oldest", but as far as the age difference to like cookies, all these options work.

[@cheshirekilo176]

Haven't watched, but I'm guessing 6,4, and 3. because there are 4 c's in "chocolate chip cookies", and 3 x 4 is 12, and 12 x 6 is 72. Therefore: 3 x 4 x 6 = 72. The house number then would be 13.

[@hevn3690]

This would have been a great riddle, the only flaw I see with this is that there will technically always be an oldest child, because you literally cannot be born the same time, the children will always be born at least a few seconds apart. So there is the possibility that two children are of the same age in years but not in months or weeks etc. But maybe we had to conclude that someone visiting a mathematician, who is obviously a geek, knows that geeks cannot reproduce that fast. Another possibility is that one child is adopted, so technically can be born the exact same time as another, then it is something to assume and not we could know about based on the given information.

[@kovi567]

"..but commonly this doesn't happen." That is where your argument went out the window.

[@DesmondAltairEzio]

.... nah. too much "implied" info

[@TheBloodsuger150]

+Adfucker King the eldest requiring a distinct age is a bit far.

[@NoriMori1992]

+DesmondAltairEzio Not really.

[@DiscoFang]

The age didn't need to be 'distinct' in the way Presh described it. (as in whether someone would 'normally' refer to a twin as older or not). The fact that the father mentioned the eldest age means, in itself, it was important to solve the riddle. And it was pretty clear, relevant to the first clues, that once you had a list of possible solutions that had the same sum (the address), that the 'eldest age' info would then identify which sum of the ages was correct. Which is why it's called a clue, it doesn't need to be an emphatic truth.

[@wynautvideos4263]

Ya the oldest cookie thing is retarded

[@somerandomname3124]

Yep. "My oldest child likes Chocolate Chip cookies." Is irrelevant, I'm 15 and eat them every single day and they never even stated his house number, I just divided 72 by 3 different numbers and got 6,3, and 4. The solution to this riddle is that the mathematician is an ass.

[@hugodl9073]

It's 2 am here and I'm watching all of this guy's videos. What am I doing with my life.

[@notananimenerd1333]

Legends say that this guy is still not able to sleep from the past 4 years

[@briant7265]

I mean, if we want to get all pedantic, the puzzle doesn't speech that the ages are whole numbers either. But you're all missing the final clue, which is, "You can solve this." Since the reasonable assumptions that ages are whole years, and "oldest" means a different age in whole years are necessary to make the puzzle solvable, they must be the case. It only took a few minutes to identify the 6 possible combinations of ages, find the duplicate sum, and eliminate the case that didn't have one "oldest".

[@entized5671]

yes, I think that is the only way to solve this, but I really hate it saying that it‘s solveable could also mean that we have to pull up a statistic about the ages children are the most likely to enjoy chocolate chip cookies, it‘s just that this is unlikely to be the solution considering rhe context of the video

[@briant7265]

​@entized5671 The real explanation, of course, is that it's a logic puzzle, not quantum physics. I just figured out a more direct solution. We have the product of their ages, 72 = 3×3×2×2×2. The only way to get two "oldest" is, 3×2 (6), 3×2 (6), 2, sum 14. Because 14 is even, it can only be the sum of 3 even numbers or two odd and an even. There is no other way to get 3 even numbers. The only way to get 2 odd numbers is to keep the 3's alone. 3, 3, 2×2×2 (8) Sum = 14, so it checks out.

[@nathanstuller4056]

While it in the context of the riddle the "oldest child" clue was sufficient, it is absolutely not a valid inference to say that having an oldest child means you cannot have twins, or two children that are almost a year apart. Every set of twins/triplets I have ever known have been very clear about who was the oldest.

[@rogerdickens6218]

Ignore the "loves chocolate chip cookies". Just worry about "The oldest child". So there is only 1 oldest child with a distinct age.

[@MrGhosta5]

It's illogical to assume people don't call their twins older or younger or call their children born less then a year apart older or younger. if your 9 months older then your sibling then for 9 months of the year your age is 1 more then your sibling. i actually knew two borthers that were born 10 months apart from each other. they ended up in different grades because one had their birthday just before the school year started and the other had their birthday just before the school year ended.

[@nicksilverstein1193]

I said 1,6,12 because 1,6,12 multiplies to 72 and adds to 19. And "Chocolate Chip Cookies" has 19 letters. How is that not right? That's a significant age difference....

[@smashgod6489]

Yes you're right. It is a big difference. But remember that the census taker could not figure out the ages even with the first two clues. 1,6,12 is the only combination that adds up to 19. If that was the answer the census taker wouldn't need a second thought. However he was stuck and that could only be because there is 2 or more combos adding up to the house number (which he knows because he's talking with the guy inside his house so he probably saw it outside). Specifically the combos 2,6,6 and 3,3,8 which both add up to 14. Now he's stuck and can't be sure until he gets the third clue that implies that there is an "eldest child". Which in that case the answer is 3,3,8.

[@marcelg.6093]

erm to be honest.. 'chocolate chip cookies' has 20 letters, damn:D

[@k-rodkev-dog7449]

Well if he couldn't tell that two of the children were of very similar age then I doubt he could tell the house number.... And if the was one who was distinctively older then he would already know what the answer is. So the dude is obviously blind and therefore can't know what the house number is.

[@myoooooooooooo]

C-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e-c-h-i-p-c-o-o-k-i-e-s I also counted and no, it's not 19 but 20 LETTERS.

[@52gt]

Where dos it say he say the children. He did see the house number as that is part of what he needs to know for his job. I think maybe you did not solve this.

[@50iraqidinar]

Clever, but kind of badly written. The big assumption that the riddle makes and relies on, which we're just supposed to intuit I guess, is that the reason the census taker can't figure out the answer with just the sum and product is because that information is insufficient, as opposed to .... the census taker simply isn't thinking logically through it, or they don't have the time, or they don't want to, or any other reason.

[@AclibButLikeTheRealOne]

I love the fact that as an observer you're supposed to figure out the house number by understanding the context here, this adds a nice touch to just solving equations like these riddles normally work.

[@sxpriite]

the work in class: 1+1 the homework: find x the test:

[@dearrain5639]

The choco chip cookie clue is not enough to solve the problem. Look, when their ages are same, they can be twins or not. In either case their fathers ,or parents mathematicians or not, can call one of their children, as older than the other. Even if they are twins their parents or between themselves consider that one is older than the other and act or talk like that. So the answer is unclear. It can be either one of the ages summing 14.

[@joliettraveler]

Being the father of twins one is always considered the older, and it is not a factor of birth sequence

[@dearrain5639]

+joliettraveler Yes i know. He said that if his children are twins or born in the same year then their parents won't call one older than the other which is not true. so the the answer is unclear. still a good puzzle though : )

[@venchergaming]

The fact you are taking something as simple as singular tense descriptors and attempting to make it WAY more difficult than it is over the semantics of if parents call one twin their eldest or not, when it has NOTHING to do with the problem at hand makes me worried about what kind of responsibilities you are given in your everyday life and workplace. If you have to create reasons for something to not be solvable by injecting your own non essential nor required factors for the sake of arguing semantics that hold no relevance to the outcome one way or another, then you are probably unemployed, or been in the same stagnant employment position making similar excuses about why after 10 years you are still making min. wage in the mail room when people who have been there less than 2 months get a raise and promoted to supervisor. Because why see a problem for what it IS, when making up imaginary factors for why YOU cant solve it is so much more fun.

[@dearrain5639]

aykm Marcus!! It has EVERYTHING to do with with the problem at hand.1:24 "You wouldn't generally refer to twins as being the oldest child". He said it, no me, but HIM.Which is not true. And keep your nose to yourself. You know nothing about me. Stop pretending like you do. Why did you say that shit? 'cause you think that I think it is unsolvable? fyi, BRAINBOX, I solved it. I worked it out. You didn't know that I solved it, did you? well you know NOTHING.

[@venchergaming]

+Sohan BENHUR I can see that even with the math being shown to you, you are still too damned stubborn to accept that in this case you are wrong. You are wayyyyy too hung up on if ppl call one twin the eldest or not. The cencus worker is asking the father, who is a mathematician. Not only that, but you don't get to split hairs over if parents with twins call one the eldest when LOGICALLY when the MATH is worked out, your options end up being 2,6,6 or 3,3,8. The eldest liking choc chip cookies is the clue, because he is basically saying one, I REPEAT, ONE number is higher. He did not say one likes choc chip and one likes oreos, or oatmeal rasin, or anything that would lead you to pick 2,6,6. The ELDEST loves them. so that is why it is 3,3,8. The fact that with it all laid out before you, solved, explained, and reiterated numerous times you are still beating a dead horse over if parents GENERALLY call TWINS older to random people is how I can pretty much sum up your overall mentality. By the way, there are 3 sets of twins in my family. Guess what? When asked how many kids my aunts and uncles have, they say 3, or 4 or 2. i.e. 3, twins who are 16 and our youngest is 13; 4, 2 girls 10 and 12, and twin boys who are 7; 2, our twins who are 15. Parents dont specify which twin was older unless ASKED, because it really doesnt matter in general conversation, because besides a couple minutes, and in some cases a few hours, some a little longer, THEY ARE THE SAME AGE. I seriously hope this has made it through the big rock you call your head.

[@monrealis]

Good puzzle. I like the idea that you have to factor 72 to find prime factors and then find all combinations that give the product of 72. I like the idea that there is only one product that is not unique. I didn't solve it, this time I was too lazy to use the technique "Get your hands dirty". By the way, does the phrase "if you add up the ages of my 3 children" mean that you cannot have more than 3 children?

[@haxking2352]

Somehow I solved this as soon as I saw the thumbnail Wish I could use my brainpower for when it actually mattered most

[@bluberry1084]

I thought it was 2, 3, and 12 bcus cookies come by the dozen and if you add the numbers up it makes 1223 which makes sense for a mathematician

[@Ah-wz6nn]

Who's to say you can't call a twin as the "oldest child?"

[@zofiatyburek]

Right? I am the oldest and I'm a twin, no one refers to me as anything else but "the oldest child".

[@oscarjimenezgarrido7591]

You can, but then providing that detail wouldn't have been enough to isolate the correct answer, which is meant to be the case. So, as the fact of singling one song as the eldest is expressly provided as a distinctive, final piece of crucial information, the only possible contextual interpretation is that the highest number in the ecuation is meant to be unique.

[@frankfrank366]

You can, and most people do! But it's clear from the puzzle that the census taker and the mathematician don't. Part of the logic puzzle is figuring out their train of thought, and there is no other plausible explanation for why learning that the "oldest child loves cookies" would grant him the correct answer. The only solution is to say "well they were both clearly operating under this ridiculous premise." They are fictional characters and the puzzle never tries to tell you they are perfect logicians.

[@olivertomkins503]

@@frankfrank366 But you have to assume they're both thinking logically to know that the reason the census taker doesn't know the answer is that there's two sets of numbers that sum to 14. If we can't assume they're thinking logically, maybe the census taker doesn't know the answer because he finds the maths too hard. Puzzle doesn't work.

[@direstorm7324]

The one jump in logic is the one he mentioned (about “oldest”). The second, even bigger leap in logic, is saying that the only reason census taker can’t figure it out because there are 2 possibilities as opposed to the census taker just not wanting to do math.

[@wealthelife]

Or the census taker had better things to do than waste time on riddles when he just wants to fill in the form and move on to the next house... Assumptions built into 'logic puzzles' is a bit of a cheat, as we can all make whatever 'reasonable' assumptions we want, and come up with other possible answers (or that there is no unique solution).

[@chettlar212]

This. Exactly. We're supposed to assume that when the puzzle doesn't say it. But there's no reason to assume that.

[@XPerienceGamingCODM]

Census was Newton?

[@legoworks-cg5hk]

Where does it say that the oldest child is the only child with that age?

[@ammaryaseen509]

The census taker then declares "you've wasted my time, a little bit"

[@NoriMori1992]

I made a list of unique combinations and then ruled out the ones where anyone would be 18 or older (because then they're not a child), and put the sums next to them: 72 = 1 x 6 x 12 ; 19 2 x 3 x 12 ; 17 2 x 4 x 9 ; 15 2 x 6 x 6 ; 14 3 x 3 x 8 ; 14 3 x 4 x 6 ; 13 The only way he could be confused about which one it is, is if the house number is 14. And since we know the oldest child has a distinct age, the children must be 3, 3, and 8. Yay! I did it!

[@tkralva.6668]

The oldest child cannot by anyway infer automatically that the younger 2 are twins. They could still have distinct younger ages. The solution is fatally flawed by this one language reality.

[@NoriMori1992]

+TRAKARU ALVAREZ No it isn't. The mathematical parameters of the riddle mean that the above options are the only ones possible.

[@paraballa]

+TRAKARU ALVAREZ You don't understand. If the house number was 14, he wouldn't know which one it is since two are twins, and there are 2 combinations. If it's not 14 then he could have figured it out without the cookie part.

[@JacoTheDeadRuler]

But house numbers MUST have 3 digits...... waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

[@B3Band]

^ That one clearly went over my head...

[@THEPELADOMASTER]

Actually, the ages could be any combination (that makes sense, not the 1, 1, 72 or the like) because the census taker could not be bothered with the mathematician's bullshit and decided to move on

[@eiyukabe]

There is no logical reason to assume two children don't have the same age (born 10 months apart, one is adopted, etc). That's not "controversial", that is a flaw in the puzzle. There is no reason to assume the census taker is playing along enough to even try to do the math, or skilled enough at math to calculate all sums in his head. When he said "I don't know", he could be saying he is unable to/unwilling to even do the math to play along (this would be more reasonable in real life when someone just wants to do their job) Just a flawed puzzle. It doesn't test one's logic; it tests if one thinks similarly to the puzzle author.

[@gavindeane3670]

There is a logical reason to infer that the oldest child has a unique age, not the same as either of the other children, because the cookie thing turned the problem from unsolvable to solvable so it must have imparted some meaningful information.

[@eiyukabe]

@@gavindeane3670 That's hopeful/optimistic thinking, not logical thinking.

[@gavindeane3670]

@@eiyukabe It is completely logical to proceed on the basis that the puzzle is in fact solvable.

[@reformed_attempt_1]

Yeah it's one of those school puzzles

[@eiyukabe]

@@gavindeane3670 Solvable by making an arbitrary assumption? There are INFINITE arbitrary assumptions people can add to puzzles to make them trivially solvable. At that point it is no longer solving a puzzle.

[@annapolak8707]

6, 4 and 3 I guess, I mean the 72 can be divided by 2,2,2,3,3 so any 3 multipliers of these combination can be it. But I like 13 as a house number so that's my guess.

[@retrogamingcommentary4163]

The thumbnail got me to click because I had to find out if the puzzle was trying to claim that calling one child the "oldest" means they couldn't be a twin. That's the sort of loophole that could actually be the solution to a different logic puzzle.

[@marticiomarkfrancis8362]

First i thought their ages are 3,4, and 6 when i'm solving before the answer was shown

[@skifast_takechances]

Without even looking at the solution I can spot the implicit meaning of "oldest child". But just because he is the oldest does not mean the oldest 2 are not the same age. As an example, one can be 24 and have a sibling 24 as well.

[@ljss6805]

Or older and younger twins. I know a number of twins and the oldest does get referred to as "oldest."

[@henkhu100]

Adding an extra constraint at 1:50 during solving the problem makes this a bad video.

[@BryanLu0]

It's not an extra constraint. It's what the statement My oldest loves chocolate chips is for

[@henkhu100]

@@BryanLu0 The fact that oldest means that the ages expressed in years are different is a constraint. It is introduced during the solution! The fact that he disgards a situation of a cild of age 2 years and 1 month and another child of age 2 years and 11 months is essential for the solution. And in such a situation we have an oldest one! So that assumption about the meaning of “oldest”has to be made before he starts with the solution

[@Nugglett.]

​@@henkhu100 Solve it then without assuming it then. You can't? Then I guess you have to assume that the oldest has a distinct age since this is a problem and not a real life situation, it must be solvable.

[@henkhu100]

Just because I can’t solve it does not mean it is not solvable. A problem is unsolvable if you proof that it is unsolvable. Many math problems have not been solved but not proven unsolvable.

[@stefHin]

you don't actually have to write down the whole table when you think through the situation in reverse order. The last hint the census taker needed is that there is an oldest son, which means before that there were 2 age distributions adding up to the same house number, and one of those is with the 2 oldest children having the same age (which is the one eliminated by the last clue). Looking at the prime factors, the only possibility to get 2 equal ages without the third one being larger is 6,6,2, which adds up to 14. Now you only have to figure out another possibility to get to 14 (just with trial and error), which is 3,3,8

[@vidarthorsby2052]

2x2x18 gets to 72. It satisfied all criterias. I am 40 and I love chocolate chip cookies.

[@cherkovision]

No, you see, you're supposed to assume that the census taker knows the mathematician's address (though that isn't clear in the question). The address is 14, thus 18-2-2 isn't a possibility.

[@Horinius]

And the census taker replies, "You're wasting tax payers' money as you're wasting my time! You are fined to pay an amount equals to the sum of the ages of everyone in this country every year during a period of time equals the product of the ages of everyone in seconds." ^_^

[@CouchPotator]

Census workers are hourly, and work until work runs out. So if every house went really slowing, there'd be more work and more hours for the worker: more money! Where as the fine would NOT go to worker: so more riddles please!

[@Horinius]

@@CouchPotator I suppose you must be kidding (like I did), aren't you? I don't know which country you're in, but there I am, census takers don't have hourly salary. But rather, they have to finish their work of the day even if they have to do over-time, but no extra pay.

[@CouchPotator]

@@Horinius yeah I wasn't being serious. Though I live in the US and that is how census jobs work here. If you're also US, maybe it depends on the state or temporary vs. permanent staff?

[@weepingdalek2568]

Twins are guarenteed that one will be a couple minutes older

[@forthehunt3335]

+Weeping Dalek Didn't think of siamese twins, did you?

[@NK-xd4fu]

heh

[@mikecrapse5285]

one still tends to come out earlier, even if it's a toe Read from the old testament, lol

[@msndrstdmstrmnd]

Unless someone has a really, really screwed up birth

[@benlyman7880]

I actually got this one! I'm so proud of myself!

[@ВгостяхуЭндеркинга]

Mathematician: **tells him the riddle** Census: “Actually, I don’t care. I just tried to be polite and communicative. And also you are weird”

[@TheSaladBoy]

I thought the oldest Child was obviously Cookie Monster which infers that the mathematician is The Count. That’s how I figured it out.

[@adityasrivastava2814]

This is the most amazing Riddle I have ever seen!!! Awesome!!! Brilliant!

[@gamefox6019]

Welp twins can be older than each other and assuming he wouldn’t say that is a dangerous assumption.

[@oscarjimenezgarrido7591]

The father provides that bit of information after the censor gets stuck between two possible answers, and also he words it in such a manner that it's clearly meant to provide the final piece of the puzzle. If he had two eldest twins, that final piece would mean nothing or, worse yet, would be unfairly misguiding. Also, he's a mathematician. When he mentions "the eldest" in the context of an algebra problem involving the unknown ages of several individuals, he's definitely singling out the highest number in the ecuation, which means that there's just one of them.

[@jamesdong1767]

I just guessed 9, 4 and 2

[@Abman31]

James Dong i did the same, 2,4,9

[@AlexVasiluta]

tannacy jack me too

[@drifters_end]

Me as well

[@tomekduresov706]

3, 4, 6

[@kevino4846]

@@tomekduresov706 my answer as well.

[@EphixAuthor]

Saw the thumbnail for this video and saved it, wanting to solve it before I watched. It doesn't mention the census taker so I treated the house number as an unknown, i.e. a useless red herring. Thanks for wasting an hour of my life.

[@wj11jam78]

This is amazing. I didn't consider that the census taker would already know the house number, but it seems obvious in hindsight.

[@lostprophet8888]

Before watching the video: The children are 2, 4 and 9 years old. 2 x 4 x 9 = 72 and the house number would therefore be 17. If there's no hidden secret within "chocolate chip cookies" (like a meaning behind it being an alliteration or counting the letters etc.) than the oldest child being 9 makes sense and the highest number can't be used two times, but still has to be somewhere in the range of being a child and not a teen yet. ;)

[@Squrdo]

I had the same thought. C is the 3rd letter in the alphabet and therefore "chocolate chip cookies" either equals -3 (substracting) 1 (dividing) 27 (multiplying) or 9 (addition). Since the first three are not possible to arrive at 72 within the given rules, you could conclude that the phrase "chocolate chip cookies" is a riddle within a riddle hinting to the number 9. The problem is, that we never got the information that the census taker knows the house number. Even if he visits the house there is no way to know that he has the house number in the first place. To argue that he has to know, because he needs to get to the house is not plausible for me. Because it is just an assumption. Just as we are assuming that the mathematician talkes about ages in years and not months (for example the children could be 2,2 and 18 months old) or that he rounds their ages to natural numbers and not in increments of half a year. Since the riddle is never stated as a purely mathematical puzzle and lives off of baseless assumptions, there can never be a definitive answer.

[@zwc76]

This incorrectly assumes you never met any twins. My father was a twin, and him and his brother constantly was making sure everyone knew who came minutes before the other ...and who was the OLDEST. :-)

[@BitcoinMotorist]

Scam School did this one too.

[@JeanCSM]

+Patrick Dukemajian Yep, +1 for that observation fellow scammer XD

[@bhengarntheawaiter]

"Congratulate me, darling! I just convinced the government that we have an eight-year-old son and three-year-old twins." "Ah, yes, my anarcho-libertarian husband strikes again. And how, pray tell, did you manage that?" "Oh, just one of those tricks you can get away with when your two eldest are only 11 months apart. Lucky Frank doesn't turn 7 until next week..."

[@ffggddss]

The census taker (CT) has one advantage on us. He knows the house number. Given that the ages are all positive integers, the product of 72 can be achieved (mathematically) in many ways (some of which can be ruled out as obviously out-of-bounds, but that won't matter): 1 + 1 + 72 = 74 1 + 2 + 36 = 39 1 + 3 + 24 = 28 1 + 4 + 18 = 23 1 + 6 + 12 = 19 1 + 8 + 9 = 18 2 + 2 + 18 = 22 2 + 3 + 12 = 17 2 + 4 + 9 = 15 2 + 6 + 6 = 14 3 + 3 + 8 = 14 3 + 4 + 6 = 13 The ages are 3, 3, 8; the house number is 14. Any other combo and the CT would be able to get the ages by knowing the house number, because there would be only one way to get it as a sum of 3 +ve integers whose product is 72. "14" is the only sum that admits more than one way to get those 3 numbers (2 ways in this case). But then, given that there is an oldest child, the (3, 6, 6) combo can be ruled out, leaving only (3, 3, 8). **Note: Technically, twins are never exactly the same age; one is always born before the other, usually by mere minutes. But we're going to ignore that, because that's what mathematicians do in problems of this sort. Fred