And the winners are ...

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The winners of the February math puzzle are:

Albert Hwang, first place, wins a $30 gift certificate to the PVCC bookstore.
Ryan Harris, second place, wins a $15 gift certificate to the Mermaid Coffee Cart.
Matthew Dean, third place, wins a big Hershey's milk chocolate bar.

Congratulations to the winners!

Winners must pick up their prizes no later than Thursday, March 13th, at 9 p.m. or they forfeit their prizes.

And now the solution.


Ages: 2, 2, 9

Events: 13

Reasoning

The first thing you need to do is list the factor combinations that multiply to 36, and eliminate the duplicates (for example: 1,3,12 is the same as 12, 3, 1 and as 3,1,12, so you only need one of those). List the remaining factor combinations that multiply to 36, and list their sums:

    1, 1, 36 - sum is 38
    1, 2, 18 - sum is 21
    1, 3, 12 - sum is 16
    1, 4, 9 - sum is 14
    6, 6, 1 - sum is 13
    2, 2, 9 - sum is 13
    2, 3, 6 sum is 11
    3, 3, 4 sum is 10

Since the woman (who knows how many events there were at the meet) said that this number was not enough information, then there must be more than one factor group that adds up to that number. This leaves two possibilities: 6, 6, 1 and 2, 2, 9. When Susan mentions the "oldest" dog, you know the answer can't be 6, 6, 1, since there isn't an "oldest" number there. So the answer has to be 2, 2, 9, and the number of events then is 13.

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Stay in Mathville! A new puzzle is coming in March, and with it a new chance to win prizes.  And for another chance to win a prize for a math puzzle, check the bulletin board outside room M160.  Mu Alpha Theta, the math honors society, posts a monthly math puzzle on the board. Take the challenge!