Where is the father?

Question

I just read the "Where ist the fish?" topic? This reminds me of another one named "Where is the father"? Maybe some of you already know this one. I guess it is quite famous, at least in Germany it is. You can try to solve it. And it definetely works - you can give an adequate solution to this problem. If no one is able to solve it, I will give the answer later on.
This is one of those questions I like most......

There is a mother which is 21 years older than her son.
In 6 years, the son will be 5 times younger than the mother. ( <-- btw., is this correctly translated into English? )

Question: Where is the father?

Kooyeen · Accepted Answer

Hi Case Assigner,
well, where is the father? What about the son? And the mother? And what are they doing? Heh... hehehe, let's see:

a_m = a_s + 21 (age of mother = age of son plus 21)
a_m6 = 5a_s6 (age of mother after 6 years = 5 times the age of the son after 6 years)

Now:
a_m6 = 5a_s6a_m+ 6 = 5(a_s + 6)
a_s + 21 + 6 = 5(a_s + 6)
a_s= -3/4 (son's age)
a_m = a_s + 21 = 20+1/4 (mother's age)

So the son is -3/4 years old, that is, minus nine month old. He will... be born? What's the future of "was born"? Umm, let's then say he'll "come out" in nine months. You asked, where is the father... how should I know? I don't even know exactly where the son is!

BarbaraPA · Answer

Well, since it takes 9 months to carry a baby, I would say the father is, at that moment, impregnating the mother. Although babies do come at their own pace, so it seems a little silly to predict exactly when he'll be born.

Case Assigner · Answer

That´s exactly the answer..... Good work <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Kooyeen · Answer

Grammar GeekWell, since it takes 9 months to carry a baby, I would say the father is, at that moment, impregnating the mother. Although babies do come at their own pace, so it seems a little silly to predict exactly when he'll be born.Yeah, it doesn't take exactly nine months, so you can't tell exactly where the son is... maybe he's still in the testicles, who knows... or maybe he's going to leave, and he's like "Ok dude, I'm outta here, see ya in nine months". That's why I said there's no exact answer actually.

Case Assigner · Answer

Yes, you are right..... It´s not possible to give a very accurate solution to this problem. I just like this one because you explain a problem which is to be solved and everyone thinks about age and all that stuff.... and then the question is where the father is at that moment...... I really like it, because you can approximately give the answer..... In German it is a little bit nicer, because the answer is much ruder, but I didn´t want to post this one here... Grammar Geek has formulated it very nicely.

Where is the father?

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