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Subj:.....Tell Mother's Age (S618)           From the book             "Mathematical Puzzles of Sam Loyd"              Edited by Martin Gardner              From: Dover Publications in 1959 How old is the mother?   AGE PUZZLES are always interesting, and possess a certain fascination for young folks who are at all mathematically inclined.  As a rule, they are extremely simple, but in this problem the data is so meager, and the proposition so different from what is expected, that the query actually appears startling. One of the trio in the picture was having a birthday anni- versary.  This aroused Master Tommy's curiosity regarding their respective ages, and in response to his queries his father said: "Now, Tommy, our three ages combined amount to just seventy years.  As I am just six times as old as you are now, it may be said that when I am but twice as old as you, our three combined ages will be twice what they are at present. Now let me see if you can tell me how old is mother?" Tommy, being bright at figures, readily solved the problem, but then he had the advantage of knowing his own age and could guess pretty closely the ages of the others.  Our puzzlists, however, have merely the data regarding the comparative ages of father and son, followed by the startling question, "How old is mother?"

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