Puzzling question

Trotter

Hi all,
Could anyone give me a working answer for the following puzzle?

A mother, son and daughter go shopping.

Mother and Son spend €220 on a present for the daughter.

Son and Daughter spend €150 on a present for their mother.

Mother and Daughter spend €200 on the Son.


How much did each of them spend, and how is it worked out?
Thanks!

jasonb

Well, assuming they all went halves on the presents :

Mother : Spent €210 in total
Son : Spent €185 in total
Daughter : Spent €175 in total...

J.

Trotter

It doesnt say anywhere that they went halves.. I suspect theres something missing from the question as given in the book here.

jasonb

If it's not in the question you'll have to assume they went halves.

If they didn't go halves, and the question doesn't say anything else, then you've no way of knowing how much each of them spent.

J.

Fremen

Something is definitely missing. You can easily show that there is not a unique solution.

Solution 1: mother pays for everything in first and third part, pick whatever split you want between the son and daughter for part two

Solution 2: mother pays for nothing, son and daughter pay in parts 1 and 3 respectively, pick whatever split you want in part two

Trotter

Thanks a lot. I knew there was something not right with it, but I kept thinking I was missing something. Cheers.

brophya2007

From reading the question and putting mother = x, son = y and daughter = z.

x + y = 220
y + z = 150
x + z = 200

z = 200 - x
y = x - 50
x = 135

Therefore mother spends €270 son spends €170 and daughter spends €130

cocoa

brophya2007 wrote: »

From reading the question and putting mother = x, son = y and daughter = z.

x + y = 220
y + z = 150
x + z = 200

z = 200 - x
y = x - 50
x = 135

Therefore mother spends €270 son spends €170 and daughter spends €130

where in the question does it state that each individual can only spend the same amount twice?