Three attempts at math humour

[Saddle Bronc 124]

1. Professor Henry Higgins, an eminent topologist of Doncaster Polytech passed away yesterday. Lacking a birth certificate, he left the following note: "I spent 1/6 of my life as a child, another 1/12 as an amorous young man, the next 1/7 building my credentials and career and then married. Five years later, my son was born, but only lived half as long as I, who am about to slip this mortal coil 4 years after his death". How old was Prof. Higgins?

2. Mr. Deweystevens Winecooler of Hartepoole passed away yesterday, and is survived by three sons to whom he left his collection of 21 wine barrels. He left the following instructions: "7 of these barrels are full, 7 are half-full and 7 are empty. Each son
   must get exactly the same numbers of full, half-full and empty barrels respectively (with the sum-total of the contents being left intact). The only measuring containers available are the barrels themselves". How should the contents be rearranged to fit the will-stipulations?

3. A maitre-d' at a restaurant received the following description for a reservation at 7:00 pm. "Two fathers, two mothers, two sons, two daughters, one older sister and one younger sister, one older and one younger brother and a baby". How large, and what composition, is the party?

Edited September 27, 2010 by Saddle Bronc

[rika60607 215]

#2 is too easy: just split one full barrel in two half-barrels. Each son gets 2 full barrels, 3 half barrels and 2 empty barrels.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

#2 is too easy: just split one full barrel in two half-barrels. Each son gets 2 full barrels, 3 half barrels and 2 empty barrels.

Answers to #1 and #3 please.

(oh, the answer at the source was to pour two of the half-barrels into two other half-barrels--result 3 full 1 half, 3 empty)

[SMR 368]

The answer to question 1 is 84 years.

Question 2 has multiple answers and several have already been supplied.

Question 3 also seems to have multiple answers. The smallest possible answer is 2 men and 2 women. Provided all have children of their own (not present), that is two fathers and two mothers (a smaller party could not uniquely contain two fathers and two mothers). The men are sons (of someone not present), by definition, and the women are daughters, likewise. One of the women is an older sister; one is a younger sister. Likewise, one of the men is a younger brother; the other is an older brother. Provided one of the younger siblings has no younger siblings, he or she is a "baby." Of course, the party could grow arbitrarily as any of these individuals could be unique and not concurrent with other individuals. Similarly, the individuals could be related to each other, married to each other, etc. but none of that is required.

Edited September 27, 2010 by SMR

[Saddle Bronc 124]

The answer to question 1 is 84 years.

Question 2 has multiple answers and several have already been supplied.

Question 3 also seems to have multiple answers. The smallest possible answer is 2 men and 2 women. Provided all have children of their own (not present), that is two fathers and two mothers (a smaller party could not uniquely contain two fathers and two mothers). The men are sons (of someone not present), by definition, and the women are daughters, likewise. One of the women is an older sister; one is a younger sister. Likewise, one of the men is a younger brother; the other is an older brother. Provided one of the younger siblings has no younger siblings, he or she is a "baby." Of course, the party could grow arbitrarily as any of these individuals could be unique and not concurrent with other individuals. Similarly, the individuals could be related to each other, married to each other, etc. but none of that is required.

Actually the answer to #3 is 7--one girl, her younger brother, their baby sister, their parents and their paternal grandparents.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

And (as both SMR and rika60607 have stated), there are lotsa answers to #2--as any answers that produce the following full:half-full:empty ratios will work.

• 0:7:0
• 1:5:1
• 2:3:2
• 3:1:3

[SMR 368]

Actually the answer to #3 is 7--one girl, her younger brother, their baby sister, their parents and their paternal grandparents.

That is one of many possible answers. Explain to me why my answer is incorrect. As I said, there are tons of answers. My answer contains the fewest people possible and has the fewest restrictions on how those people are related to each other.

When I say that a father is coming to dinner, that doesn't mean that his child is coming as well. He is, by nature of the fact that he has children, a father. Unless I have missed something obvious, the question is rather inane and doesn't have much to do with mathematics. Every individual mentioned in the problem could represent a unique individual coming to dinner and they could all have no relation to each other.

Edited September 28, 2010 by SMR

[Jenn! 918]

Math humor is hilarious! Math geeks really get a bad rap.