Floyd

iTrader: (9)

Answer this:

On Christmas Eve the children of one family left a note for santa saying that all the girls would like a puzzle each and all the boys would like a book each. They left Santa this riddle to solve: The girls have twice as many sisters as brothers and the boys have five times as many sisters as brothers. How many puzzles and how many books did Santa leave for the children?

Don't say none because he couldn't work it out or that he didn't have enough time to play silly games

It took me longer than I thought to work it out. Sheesh!

F

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

5 girls and 2 boys - each boy has one brother and 5 sisters, each girl has 4 sisters and 2 brothers.

carl

This is one of those cases where it's quicker to do it by trial and error than by calculation.

You can also make some assumptions: the minimum unit of "brother" is one, so the boys either have 5, 10 or 15 sisters. The bigger numbers are quite unlikely...

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

I was getting quite frustrated and I've got a brain the size of a planet.

F

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

But I still can't make my son understand no matter how much I shout and point

F

tiggers

Err... more like not possible!

tiggers.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I hate questions that beat around the bush.

What is this country trying to do? Raise Politicians? [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

FFS Can't they ask sensible questions rather than confuse kids with that literary jargon.

I mean what is wrong with the question: How many Boys are there and How many girls are there?

Lord Jeffery Wode esq.

Santa looked at the note, drank his sherry, ate his mince pie, and left them all a gameboy each whilst treading reindeer droppings into the carpet.

Andy Tang

iTrader: (3)

Wouldn't santa have been better off giving them all a puzzle book each???

GarethE

iTrader: (1)

And each child has a different father

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

The management answer would be to either leave a dozen of each or not bother because it would be too expensive time wise to work out the correct answer!

F

TelBoy

Ali-B, it does say that, except it's worded in terms of puzzles and books, no???

Personally, i like it. Anything which encourages mental arithmetic rather than tapping a few keys on a calculator is a good thing, in my opinion.

Danbo

Very very simple. 5 and 2.

damian666

While working out the equation to solve, it occured to me that the multiples were 5 and 2. Solved before you start! Dont remember doing stuff like this at 10 tho.

babber

Surely the boys wanted an Xbox though, lol

Phill

SCOOBY TOWERS

iTrader: (7)

Most kids @ 10 will answer.
Santa doesn't exist - Now ask a serious question.

Pavlo

It can be written as a simultaneous equation, which is maybe what they want, but I don't remember doing them when I was 10!

Girls=G
Boys=B

Total brothers or sisters = total boys or girls less one.

(G-1)=2*B
5(B-1)=G

(5B-5)-1=2B
5B-6=2B
3B=6
B=6/3=2

G=5(2-1)=5

Paul