The Vicar and the Sexton
The sexton at the local church was ill and did not attend the Sunday service.
The vicar visited him after the service, and the following conversation took
place:
Vicar: "There were only 3 people in the congregation - excluding myself -
and the product of their ages was 2450. The sum of their ages was twice
my own age. Can you tell me the ages of the members of the
congregation?"
Sexton: "You haven't given me enough information."
Vicar: "It is sufficient for you to know that I was the oldest person
there!"
Now there is no doubt that the vicar was a very mathematically minded man;
but how old was he?
By the following Sunday the sexton had recovered well enough to be able to
ring the bells at the regular service. There were just two bells in the church
belfry; the first can be described as a 'ding' - the second, not unnaturally,
as a 'dong'. Now an ancient by-law in the district proclaimed that no 'ding'
could be rung exactly two chimes after another 'ding'; and no 'dong' could
be rung exactly three chimes after another 'dong'.
So what was the longest sequence of chimes that the poor sexton was permitted
to ring?
I give up, show me the Answer
Copyright Erik Oosterwal - 2004
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