Now, don't cheat and scroll down to the answer until you have used your simple arithmetic and logic to work out the ages!
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Solution to Childrens' Ages Puzzle
Possible ages for the children are:
36, 1, 1
18, 2, 1
12, 3, 1
9, 4, 1
9, 2, 2
6, 6, 1
6, 3, 2
These add up to: 38, 21, 16, 14, 13, 13, 11 respectively
If the number of the house next door had been 38, 21, 16, 14, or 11
then the ages of the children would have been known to the man,
but he said 'Not sufficient information' - so the house must have been # 13
(as there are two alternative sets of ages adding to 13)
When the woman said 'The eldest is not at home', this means there IS an eldest child,
so the children could not have been 6, 6 , 1 as there is not one 'eldest' with twins,
therefore:
The ages are 9, 2, 2
Did you get them right ?
Easy wasn't it?