Thursday, March 6, 2008

Brain teaser

Richard is 33 years old today.
This is three times as old as his brother Philip was when Richard was the age that Philip is today.
How old is Philip?
.
Too easy?

5 comments:

Hollys Hobbies said...

is he eleven?

Lydia said...

thats my guess, but it seems too easy.

Della Hill said...

Close, but you're only half way there.
Read it again.
The difficulty of this one is the complexity of the wording. -For me at least.
-Della

Lydia said...

IS IT 44 ?

Della Hill said...

Here's the official answer:
If Richard today is 33 years old, and that is three times as old as Philip was, Philip must have been 11 years old. So, when Philip was 11, Richard was as old as Philip is today. Therefore, the years that passed from the time Philip was 11 to today must be equal to the time that passed between Richards age then and now. We need to find a midpoint between the two ages--33 and 11. That will give us Philips age today--22 years old.

Does that make sense? Or is it still confusing?