At first glance, this puzzle seems very straightforward. It gives you just two small clues:
- A father and his son’s ages add up to 66
- The father’s age is the reverse of his son’s age
Sounds easy, but many people rush and get it wrong.
Let’s break it down step by step.
We are told that the two ages are made up of the same digits, just reversed. That means we are looking for pairs like:
12 and 21
23 and 32
34 and 43
45 and 54
Now we test each pair to see which one adds up to 66:
12 + 21 = 33
23 + 32 = 55
34 + 43 = 77
45 + 54 = 99
None of these work.
So we need to think more carefully.
Let’s represent the son’s age as a two-digit number: 10a + b
Then the father’s age, being the reverse, is: 10b + a
If we add them together:
(10a + b) + (10b + a) = 66
11a + 11b = 66
11(a + b) = 66
a + b = 6
Now we just need two digits that add up to 6, where the father is older than the son. The valid pair is:
a = 1 and b = 5
So:
Son = 15
Father = 51
Check:
15 + 51 = 66
51 is the reverse of 15
The father is older than the son
Everything matches perfectly.
Final Answer:
Father: 51 years old
Son: 15 years old