Riddle 5: Strawberry Shortcake

by William Jackson on 2007-03-21

I hope you like math. All you need is math, and maybe a bit of patience to work it out, and this riddle is in the bag.

I was visiting a friend one evening and remembered that he had three daughters. I asked him how old they were.

“The product of their ages is 72,” he answered.

Quizzically, I asked, “Is there anything else you can tell me?”

“Yes,” he replied, “the sum of their ages is equal to the number of my house.”

I stepped outside to see what the house number was. Upon returning inside, I said to my host, “Iʼm sorry, but I still canʼt figure out their ages.”

He responded apologetically, “Iʼm sorry. I forgot to mention that my oldest daughter likes strawberry shortcake.”

With this information, I was able to determine all of their ages. How old is each daughter?

I could really go for some strawberry shortcake myself right now. In fact, Rebecca and I are planning a trip to Sweet Berry Farm very soon, so that strawberry shortcake just might happen.