5 comments

brc912's picture
105 pencils
brc912Monday, December 15, 2008 - 14:28

629 kits?

Guest's picture
GuestTuesday, December 16, 2008 - 01:30

Hmmm... I might have calculated this mathematically...

Say there are 7 wives, and the rhyme said 'each wife had six sacks' - 7x6 equals 42 so far in total.

Each sack had five cats - 7x(6x5) equals 210 in total.

Each cat had five kits 7x(6x(5x4)) equals 840 in total.

The rhyme said that 'each cat, sack wife and he took a kitten', so (excluding the number of kittens) this comes to 210+1.

To find out the number of kittens, it's 840-211.

Which comes to 629 kittens.

A clever campaign if you're ever bored in a supermarket, and wish to drive your mathematical side even further. Excellent campaign!

Guest's picture
GuestTuesday, November 24, 2009 - 23:08

i think you've missed a step or two...

each cat, sack, wife, and he, so:

210 cats + 42 sacks + 7 wives + 1 man = 260 total

840 - 260 = 580 kittens!

(but yes, i think the joke is that he didn't actually BUY any... so technically, none.)

Guest's picture
GuestMonday, December 22, 2008 - 08:46

none. duh

Guest's picture
GuestSunday, January 25, 2009 - 10:33

Would've been nice if it was a contest or something of the like. Figure out the riddle and you win an even bigger discount?