Question

1. Solve this classic riddle: (Hint: The answer is NOT 1). Explain how you found your answer.

As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives.
Each wife had seven sacks.
Each sack had seven cats.
Each cat had seven kits.
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?

Answer 1

The traditional understanding of this riddle is that only one person is going to St. Ives, which is the narrator. All of the others are coming from St. Ives. The trick is that the listener assumes that all of the others must be totaled up, forgetting that only the narrator is said to be going to St. Ives 14. Therefore, the answer to the riddle is one.

I hope this helps you understand the riddle better!

Explanation:

OR

Hence, the total number of people going to St. Ives are: The kid asking the riddle + The Man + His Seven Wives + (7 X 7 = 49) sacks + (7 X 7 X 7 = 343) cats present in all sacks + (7 X 343 = 2401) kittens = 2802. This is the right answer when all of them were going to St.