Monday, February 18, 2013

A Birthday Bonanza



Arithmetic
Challenge One


Here's a mathematical trial to test your arithmetic skills. The whole post is a puzzle so do your best to decipher the clues and find the answer!

A Birthday Bonanza

It's my brother's birthday today, he's my older brother, but not my oldest brother which does cause some interest when trying to explain my family to people. In fact I have two brothers and I tend to think of them as big brother, and little-big brother.

There's a bit of a age gap between me and my little-big brother; come my birthday in March he'll be ten years older than me and for the next two glorious weeks he's eleven years my senior. I'm sure it will soften the blow at my next big birthday to know that he's just had one too.

He's actually quite good at puzzles, and his trying to stump me with tricks and puzzles he'd learned at school was probably one of the things that got me hooked on puzzling in the first place. Indeed we're a family of game and puzzle nuts for my Mum it was crosswords, my Dad loves Sudoku and my Big Brother is into computing - well computers are a puzzle to me anyway.

Now of course I have a niece by my Little-Big Brother who I shall be trying to catch out with puzzles as soon as I reach a point where I am smarter than she is - she has been trained well by her Father!

So Happy Birthday Little-Big Brother, and tell me, how does it feel to have just turned...

No, that would be far to easy now wouldn't it, and it's not like me to pass up on a great opportunity like this!

Now you haven't had enough information yet to work out how old he is turning today, but all you need to know is that seventeen years ago today my Little-Big Brother celebrated being double my age. Possibly by chasing me round the house threatening my imminent death - I probably deserved it!

So, how old am I, and how old is my brother?

photo credit: origamidon via photopin cc

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