THE CENSUS-TAKER


A Census-taker stopped at a lady's house and wanted to find out how many children she had. The lady, a math teacher, wanted to see if the Census-taker still knew his math.

Census-taker to lady: How many children do you have?

Lady: Three.

Census-taker: How old are they?

Lady: the product of their ages is 36.

Census-taker: Well, that's just not enough information.

Lady: The sum of their ages is our house number.

Census-taker looks at the house number thinking this would give it away, but says: Still not enough information!.

Lady: My oldest child plays the piano.

Census-taker: AHA! I know now. Thank you!

How did the census-taker figure out their ages? CAN YOU? Don't quit. Start out by trying some numbers. What are their ages?

For the answer (try not to look right away!).

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