Product of ages is 72. Sum is the number on the building We try the possible combinations of the product of ages and also the corresponding sum. 72,1,1 - sum = 74 36,2,1 - sum = 39 18,2,2 - sum = 22 18,4,1 - sum = 23 9,8,1 - sum = 18 9,4,2 - sum = 15 8,3,3 - sum = 14 6,6,2 - sum = 14 Now here's the trick. The 2nd mathematician was NOT able to guess the ages even after checking the sum. From the table above, you see that all the possible combinations have unique sums except (9,4,2) and (8,3,3) which have the same sum. So the door number must be 14 and the mathematician is still not able to find which is the right combination. 3rd clue refers to "oldest" child which means that (6,6,2) is not possible - because there are 2 children with the same age of 6 and you can't refer to one as the "oldest". Hence the right combination is (8,3,3) The ages are 8, 3 and 3. :)