SOLUTION: Factoring out Monomials THIS IS MY LAST QUESTION AND ILL PASS MY CLASS TOMMOROW PLEASE HELP ME OUT HERE IM BEGGING YOU Mr. Jones says that he has 3 daughters, the product of whos

Question 41900: Factoring out Monomials THIS IS MY LAST QUESTION AND ILL PASS MY CLASS TOMMOROW
PLEASE HELP ME OUT HERE IM BEGGING YOU
Mr. Jones says that he has 3 daughters, the product of whose s is 72. Furthermore, the sum of their ages is equal to his house number. A mathematician claims that even though he knows the house number, not enough information has been given to determine their ages. Thereupon, Mr. Jones adds that his youngest daughter likes raspberry yogurt. Smilingly, the mathematician announces the ages of the girls. What are the ages of the daughters?
Thank you -this really confuses me
========my thoughts========
so why does it matter that she likes raspberry yogurt??
would it make a difference if she liked chocolate pie?? I don�t understand?
and is this even what helps him figure their ages? maybe he knew the answer before Mr. Jones told him about her liking raspberry yogurt? or maybe it matters that she�s the youngest? a house number can have a variety of different numbers so how does that help? I don�t even know where to begin. maybe its a trick question.

Answer by longjonsilver(2297) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
For 3 things to find out, you need to have at least 3 equations.

You have 1 mathematical piece of info: product of 3 ages = 72.

Also got some partial maths data: sum of ages = house number. and his number is?

Thirdly, non-mathematical data: youngest likes yoghurt. I really want to swear here but wont.

Basically, you will never find the ages with one equation.

jon.

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