Family Size Poser

Family Size Poser

Posers and Puzzles

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SubscriberJS357

Joined
29 Dec 08
Moves
6788
12 Feb 16

A couple has 4 daughters. Each daughter has one brother. How many people are in this family?

This is either very hard or very easy.

SubscriberC J Horse
A stable personality

Near my hay.

Joined
27 Apr 06
Moves
64191
12 Feb 16

7. Couple + 4 daughters + 1 son. Unless I'm missing something obvious.

SubscriberJS357

Joined
29 Dec 08
Moves
6788
12 Feb 16

Originally posted by C J Horse
7. Couple + 4 daughters + 1 son. Unless I'm missing something obvious.
You aren't missing anything. There is a out there where someone insists the answer is 10.

Standard memberAThousandYoung
Insanity at Masada

tinyurl.com/mw7txe34

Joined
23 Aug 04
Moves
26660
15 Feb 16

As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives,
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits:
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were there going to St. Ives?

D
Standard memberDiapason

Joined
21 Sep 05
Moves
75006
16 Feb 16
1

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were there going to St. Ives?
I find the canonical answer to this to be unsatisfying on a couple of levels.
First of all the riddle appears to ask how many "Kits, cats, sacks and wives" are going - which should not therefore include either the bigamist or the narrator of the story.

The second problem is that I would guess that a large group of sack-carrying wives would almost certainly walk more slowly than me, so it would be equally possible for me to be catching them up or walking in the opposite direction.

SubscriberKewpie

Australia

Joined
20 Jan 09
Moves
386476
19 Feb 16

There was only one going to St Ives. All the others were coming from St Ives.

SubscriberC J Horse
A stable personality

Near my hay.

Joined
27 Apr 06
Moves
64191
20 Feb 16

Or they were all going to St Ives and you were overtaking them.

Subscribermwmiller
RHP Member No.16

Joined
25 Feb 01
Moves
101710
21 Feb 16

All we can say is that there is one person going to St. Ives.
There is not enough information to say that anyone else is going anywhere
They could be going there but nothing is said about it.

Standard memberwolfgang59
Quiz Master

RHP Arms

Joined
09 Jun 07
Moves
48793
23 Feb 16

Originally posted by mwmiller
All we can say is that there is one person going to St. Ives.
There is not enough information to say that anyone else is going anywhere
They could be going there but nothing is said about it.
St Ives is nice.
Cant understand so many leaving.

Standard membertwhitehead

Cape Town

Joined
14 Apr 05
Moves
52945
23 Feb 16
2

Originally posted by wolfgang59
St Ives is nice.
Cant understand so many leaving.
Well it wasn't so nice yesterday when it was overrun with cats and wives.