Question:

Albert and Bernard just became friends with Cheryl, and they want to know when her birthday is. Cheryl gives them a list of
10 possible dates.
May 15

May 16

June 17

June 18

July 14

July 16

August 14

August 15

May 19

August 17

Cheryl then tells Albert and Bernard separately the month and the day of her birthday respectively.
Albert: I don't know when Cheryl's birthday is, but I know that Bernard does not know too.
Bernard: At first I don't know when Cheryl's birthday is, but I know now.
Albert: Then I also know when Cheryl's birthday is.
So when is Cheryl's birthday?

S O LU T I O N :
The way to solve this problem is to look carefully at the question and then work through each statement in turn and see what
we can deduce from it.
From the question we know that Albert has been told May, June, July or August.
Bernard has been told 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, or 19.
Albert: I don't know when Cheryl's birthday is, but I know that Bernard does not know too.

Bernard has been told the day of Cheryl's birthday. There are only two days, 18 and 19 that
appear once on Cheryl's list. This means that Cheryl's birthday cannot be May 19th or June
18th as if it was then Bernard would know the answer.

Remember that Albert has been told a month and from the statement he knows that
Bernard does not know the birthday. For Albert to be certain that Bernard does not know
Cheryl's birthday, the month Albert had been told must not have been May or June.

Therefore Cheryl's birthday must fall in July or August.

Bernard: At first I don't know when Cheryl's birthday is, but I know now.

Based on the above Bernard has worked out that Cheryl's birthday is in July or August.

If Bernard now knows Cheryl's birthday the day he must have been told would be 15, 16 or
17. It cannot be 14 as this falls in both July and August and as such he wouldn't know
Cheryl's birthday for certain.

Albert: Then I also know when Cheryl's birthday is.

Based on the above Albert has worked out that Cheryl's birthday is one of the following:
o

July 16

August 15

August 17

If Albert now knows for certain when Cheryl's birthday is he must have been told the month
of July, as if it was August there would be two possible options.

Therefore the answer is July 16.

***********************************************************
Albert and Bernard now want to know how old Cheryl is.
Cheryl: I have two younger brothers. The product of all our ages (i.e. my age and the ages of my
two brothers) is 144, assuming that we use whole numbers for our ages.
Albert: We still don't know your age. What other hints can you give us?
Cheryl: The sum of all our ages is the bus number of this bus that we are on.
Bernard: Of course we know the bus number, but we still don't know your age.
Cheryl: Oh, I forgot to tell you that my brothers have the same age.
Albert and Bernard: Oh, now we know your age.
So what is Cheryl's age?

Sequel solution
Cheryl first says that she is the oldest of three siblings, and that their ages multiplied makes 144.
144 can be decomposed to factors of prime numbers by the fundamental theorem of
arithmetic (144 = 1 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 3 x 3), and all possible ages for Cheryl and her two brothers
examined (for example, 16, 9, 1, or 8, 6, 3, and so on). The sums of the ages can then be
computed. On examining all the possible ages, it turns out there are two sets of possible ages
that produce the same sum: 9, 4, 4 and 8, 6, 3, which sum to 17, and 12, 4, 3 and 9, 8, 2, which
sum to 19. Cheryl mentions that her brothers are the same age, which eliminates the last three
possibilities and leaves only 9, 4, 4, i.e. Cheryl is 9 years old and her brothers are 4 years old,
and the bus the three of them are on has the number 17. All other possibilities give a unique sum
that would have allowed Bernard and Albert to deduce Cheryl's age once Cheryl gave the second
clue (that the sum of the ages is the bus number they are on).

PROBLEM:

I choose two different integers, both greater than 1, whose sum is less than 100. I
whisper this sum to Sam, and whisper their product to Paula. They then have the
following conversation:
Paula: I dont know the numbers.
Sam: I knew you didnt. I dont either.
Paula: Ah, now I know them.
Sam: Now I know them too.
What is the LARGER number that I chose?
Solution:
The numbers are 4 and 13. First, I'll convince you that these are a valid solution, and leave for
another post (or poster) to describe how to actually find the solution.
Note of course that if one knows both the sum and the product it does uniquely determine the two
numbers.
Here's how it all goes down, chronologically, complete with inner monologues:
Me (whispered to Sam): "The sum is 17."
What Sam learns: They might be 2 and 15, 3 and 14, ..., or 8 and 9. They are one odd and one
even; they can't both be prime. Paula will be whispered one of: 30, 42, 52, 60, 66, 70 or 72. None
is a product of primes, so she won't know the numbers yet.
Me (whispered to Paula): "The product is 52."
What Paula learns: the numbers are either 4 and 13 or 2 and 26, so Sam has been whispered
either 17 or 28.
Paula: "I don't know the numbers."
What Sam learns: nothing.
Sam: "I knew you didn't."
What Paula learns: his sum cannot be expressed as a sum of two primes -- therefore it must be
odd (Goldbach conjecture). The numbers are 4 and 13! I've got it!
What Sam learns: she knows my sum is odd now. The possibilities are:

If she was told 30, she knows that my sum is one of 11, 13 or 17.

If 42, she knows my sum is 13, 17 or 23.

If 52, she knows my sum is 17.

If 60, she knows my sum is 17, 19 or 23.

If 66, she knows my sum is 17, 25 or 35.

If 70, she knows my sum is 17, 19 or 37.

If 72, she knows my sum is 17 or 27.

Sam: "I don't either."

What Paula learns: nothing. (WE, the puzzle solvers, need to know this in order to eliminate other
possibilities, as we'll get to later...)
Paula: "Ah, now I know them."
What Sam learns: Aha! Only if the product is 52 can she know my sum has to be 17.
Sam: "Now I know them too."
Hopefully this convinces you that 4 and 13 are a solution. How to find that solution is a subject for
another post (perhaps you want to make it?).

y = x^6+27

= (x^2+3)(x^2-3x+3)(x^2+3x+3)

Now, our solutions are to be among positive integers and y is the product of two
primes. So one of the three factors must be 1. Clearly, x^2+3=1 is not solvable
among the positive integers, so our factor of 1 must come from one of the other
two factors.

x^2+3x+3=1 yields the solutions x=-2 or -1, which are not positive.

x^2-3x+3=1 yields the solutions x=1 and x=2.

x=1 leads to an issue since x^2+3 = 4 = 2^2 and x^2+3x+3 = 7 which implies
that y is the product of 3 primes.

So x must be 2, which leads to y = 7*13 = 2^6+27 = 91, a product of exactly 2

primes.

So the sum of all positive integers x and y that make this work is 2+91 = 93.

Problems: