posted by dsk on November 3rd, 2007 at 11:43PM

Got it.

It seems like this is from the (famed) Microsoft Interview Questions.

If I ever get asked something like that during an interview, I'll tell them to fuck-off and ask if the position is for solving cross-world puzzles.

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I know!
posted by Driusan on November 1st, 2007 at 9:01PM

2 2 and 9!

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posted by dennisn on October 31st, 2007 at 10:19AM

A few clarifying assumptions: (1) the ages and number of trees can't be fractional (ie. half cut trees). (2) you're sure you didn't omit any information. Oh. I don't know; like the number of trees in the garden.

In which case, I can think of eight solutions. They are as follows:

(1) The oldest kid is 36. The other two are one-year-old twins. There are 38 trees in the garden, and the 36yo plays trumpet.

(2) The oldest kid is 18. The other two are one and two years old. There are 21 trees in the garden, and the 18yo plays trumpet.

...

In more concise notation, their ages can be:
1 1 36
1 2 18
1 3 12
1 4 9
1 6 6
2 2 9
2 3 6
3 3 4

Including practical factors like the unlikelihood of twins, the limited space in a garden for trees, the childbearing years of the father, and the competency of youth to play instruments, their ages are most likely 1, 4 and 9.

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