Gabriel Tarr

My name is Gabriel Tarr. I am faculty at Scottsdale Community College (SCC). I have been teaching here at SCC since Fall 2016. I have been teaching in general since 2009 (depending on how one defines teaching). My academic interests lie in mathematics and statistics education, mathematics, and statistics (yes, they are related, but DISTINCT). 

In some of my spare time, I do fun logic/maths puzzles. Here are a couple of them that are pretty approachable regardless of mathematical ability. They just require a little thought.

1. I left my campsite and hiked south for 3 miles. Then I turned east and hiked for 3 miles. I then turned north and hiked for 3 miles, at which time I came upon a bear inside my tent eating my food. What color was the bear?

Note: This is hypothetical. I think camping is awful.

2. A person goes door-to-door at an apartment complex selling chocolate and arrives at an apartment. A mother opens the door and the salesperson offers her some chocolate.

Mother: “I’ll buy your chocolate if you can correctly tell me the ages of my three children.”

Salesperson: “Can I have a hint?”

Mother: “Sure. The product of their ages is 72.”

Salesperson: “I need another hint.”

Mother: “Fine…the sum of their ages is the number of my apartment.”

Salesperson: “I still don’t have enough information.”

Mother: “It’s okay. I need to go pick up my oldest from soccer practice.”

The salesperson then immediately gives the mother the ages of the three children and the mother purchases the chocolate.

What are the ages of the mother’s three children?