KINSHIP LOGIC PROBLEMS

In every culture kinship logic problems are popular. These are taken from the cultures indicated below. Many of these I found in Marcia Ascher's book:Ethnomathematics, ISBN 0-534-14880-8 (p. 69). Dr. Ascher devotes an entire chapter to kinship problems in mathematics. The value of these problems in the math classroom is that they force students to make diagrams. By the way, students love these problems. There may be students who may be sensitive to the fact that they have no siblings, or a parent, or parents. Make sure to explain before you hand these out that families differ in size and make-up and that's what makes each family special.

From Brazil:
Two mothers and two daughters sleep in the same room. There are only three beds and each one sleeps on one of them. How can this be?

From Puerto Rico:
Who is the sister of my aunt, who is not my aunt, but is the daughter of my grandparents? From Ireland:
One day three brothers were going past a graveyard. One of them said: "I shall go in so that I may say a prayer for the soul of my brother's son." The second man said the same thing. "I shall not go in," said the third brother. "My brother's son is not there." Who is buried in the graveyard?

From Wales:
What relation to us is a brother-in-law to a brother of our mother?

From Vladimir Province, Russia:
An old man was walking with a boy; the boy was asked, "How is the old man related to you?" He replied, His mother is my mother's mother-in-law." What relation is that?

From Bermuda:
A man is looking at a picture and says: "Brothers and sisters I have none, but this man's father is my father's son." Who is the man looking at?