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Ultimate math trick question?

Jim_MDP said:
I had in mind in three seconds both the normal intended answer and the more detailed "gotcha" explained in later posts. It's not a new puzzler.
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No one has successfully explained the "gotcha" correctly, and therefor they are wrong. Sorry but if that was your thoughts you are wrong too.
 
Red Baron Farms said:
No one has successfully explained the "gotcha" correctly, and therefor they are wrong. Sorry but if that was your thoughts you are wrong too.
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Your particular "gotcha" does not matter a whole bunch, I remember my own kids thinking that 7 1/2 was meaningful. Amusing, until you happen upon a serious CV where someone claims to be 28 1/2.

WTF? People do this?
 
Reminds me of this:

Abbott: You're 40 years old, and you're in love with a little girl,
say 10 years old. You're four times as old as that girl.
You couldn't marry that girl, could you?
Costello: No. ?

Abbott: So you wait 5 years. Now the little girl is 15, and you're 45.
You're only three times as old as that girl.
So you wait 15 years more.
Now the little girl is 30, and you're 60.
You're only twice as old as that little girl. ?

Costello: She's catching up. ?

Abbott: Here's the question. How long do you have to wait before you
and that little girl are the same age?

Costello: What kind of question is that? That's ridiculous.
If I keep waiting for that girl, she'll pass me up.
She'll wind up older than I am.
Then she'll have to wait for me!
 
I suppose the "gotcha" could be more in the wording than the math.
If it is read to mean that the sister was half "my" current age when I was 4, then "I" might be 11 right now.

My sister was 5 and 1/2 when "I" was 4 and 1/2. Since then 6 and 1/2 years have passed, making her 12 years old- and "me" 11 years old (twice the 5 1/2 that she was when I was 4)
That work?
 
Assuming you live on Earth and your sister lives on Jupiter, you would be, most likely, dead.

Norm
 
fibbermcgee said:
Reminds me of this:

Abbott: You're 40 years old, and you're in love with a little girl,
say 10 years old. You're four times as old as that girl.
You couldn't marry that girl, could you?
Costello: No. ?

Abbott: So you wait 5 years. Now the little girl is 15, and you're 45.
You're only three times as old as that girl.
So you wait 15 years more.
Now the little girl is 30, and you're 60.
You're only twice as old as that little girl. ?

Costello: She's catching up. ?

Abbott: Here's the question. How long do you have to wait before you
and that little girl are the same age?

Costello: What kind of question is that? That's ridiculous.
If I keep waiting for that girl, she'll pass me up.
She'll wind up older than I am.
Then she'll have to wait for me!
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Good joke but the answer to this math puzzle is not a joke answer.

I think that maybe the reason people refuse to push their way through and actually solve it just might be because they fear a bad joke answer rather than them actually failing to logic it through completely. Maybe the other half don't get it for the opposite reason. But I wasn't kidding when I stated I saw a list of 1755 people answering and not one really had it right as far as I could see. I guess you get a :p for a good joke answer though!:D
 
William Parcher said:
You actually read 1755 answers to this question?
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No I skimmed the top hundred or so most upvoted answers. The vast majority of answers were 14. A few got tricked and said 24. Less than 5 had 13-14-15, which is false (unless you cheat) but a good try. A few joke answers.

It helps the skimming time to know the site ranks answers. The majority of answers, like 1730 or so +/- were already downvoted and collapsed. You can still view them to double check.....but when I did I saw exactly the same in almost the same proportion too!
 
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Red Baron Farms said:
Your "If" is wrong. :p for good creative try though. It's a simple math puzzle, no weird black holes, leap years, Speed of light time warps, or purposely misreading of the question, etc... is required to solve it.:p Just math.
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From that should I take it that " 4 years old " in the question means precisely 4 years old- as it would in a mathematical statement, and "half my age" in the question means precisely 1/2 ?
If that is not the case, my answer is as complete given the ambiguity of the question as any other, no?
 
Distracted1 said:
From that should I take it that " 4 years old " in the question means precisely 4 years old- as it would in a mathematical statement, and "half my age" in the question means precisely 1/2 ?
If that is not the case, my answer is as complete given the ambiguity of the question as any other, no?
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Lets be patient and see if someone who likes puzzles can take a stab at it. I don't want to ruin it for people not online right now! But no. We don't need to add qualifiers either. The statement stands as is.
 
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A person shouldn't have to ask another person how old they are. Everyone already knows their own age. This person is retarded or has Alzheimer's.

So did I spot the trick?
 
Red Baron Farms said:
No I skimmed the top hundred or so most upvoted answers. The vast majority of answers were 14. A few got tricked and said 24. Less than 5 had 13-14-15, which is false but a good try. A few joke answers.

It helps the skimming time to know the site ranks answers. The majority of answers, like 1730 or so +/- were already downvoted and collapsed. You can still view them to double check.....but when I did I saw exactly the same in almost the same proportion too!
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So nobody other than you knew the correct answer. Did the person who posted the puzzle know the correct answer, or was it always only you?
 
William Parcher said:
So nobody other than you knew the correct answer. Did the person who posted the puzzle know the correct answer, or was it always only you?
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Not that I saw, but I am sure even you can get it right if you just stopped playing it off as stupid and simply tried solving it like the math puzzle it remains.
 
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