One of those bell ringers seems awfully young...

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

On the warm down, I got one of the bell ringers as being 2 years old. Is this right?

I didn't get 2 years old but

Submitted by jamesbrown (not verified) on

I didn't get 2 years old but one of them was still quite Young?

Huh. I can't find any

Submitted by ewokonfire (not verified) on

Huh. I can't find any solution other than 2, 35, 35. What's yours?

What's you're method so far,

Submitted by jamesbrown (not verified) on

What's you're method so far, I'll give you a hint ?

Algebraic method

Submitted by TheBatman (not verified) on

I also got 35,35,2 which I got by breaking up the 2450 into factors. My teacher thinks it's possible to do this algebraically, but he couldn't manage to get an answer from it. Has anyone been able to get an algebraic method to work?

Listing numbers

Submitted by Jack K. (not verified) on

I've just listed out all possible combinations of factors that multipy to get 2450, like (5, 5, 98) or (7, 7, 50).

Young bellringers

Submitted by cxm on

Yes, one of those bellringers is pretty young. Quick bit of googling and it seems to be that the youngest most start is 11, but I have seen some much younger ones than that in real life (they used very big boxes).

Minister age

Submitted by baldock97 (not verified) on

Surely the minister can be many different ages. Will the answer involve greater than

Minister age

Submitted by Jack K. (not verified) on

I haven't written down the solution in full, but from a quick investigation I think I can see how there would be only one age the Minister can be...

ministers age

Submitted by Kat (not verified) on

As a ringer myself, people can start from very young. I am just confused about how it realtes to the ministers age

your age

Submitted by Kat (not verified) on

is your age the ministers age

Factorising is your friend...

Submitted by cxm on

Start by factorising 2450 (i.e. write it as a product of prime factors). You can then list all the possible ages of the three bellringers (carefully and logically). Then remember that the bishop does actually know how old he is (even if you don't) so the fact that he cannot solve the problem is important.
HTH