- #1
Werg22
- 1,431
- 1
A man invites his friend to his house for a small chatter over some tea. There is a good number of children playing in the backyard, and upon seeing this, the guest asks his host whether all these children are his. The host gives him a brief "no" and tells him that the children belong to himself and three other families. The guest redoubles curiosity and asks to his host how many children he has. The host answers him: "Let's put it this way: the total number of children playing in the background is less than 18, with each family having a different number of children, mine being the largest. Also, the product of the number of children in each family happens to be my home number which you just saw when you arrived". The guest then scrambles on piece of paper for a bit and then looks up and says "I need more information. Does the family with the smallest number of children have more than one child?". As soon as the host answers, the guest is able to correctly tell how many children the latter has. All of this having been said, anyone can do the same on the basis of the information given above. How many children does the man in question have?
Last edited: