For The Love of Math

Since so many of you shared my love of maps, I thought maybe I'd find some math chums as well. Here's a little math problem I shamelessly stole from a thread at the Baptist Board:

At a party you overhear another guest asking the age of the host's 3 children. The host gives the following information to the guest:

• Each child's age is given as a whole number.
• The product of their ages is 72.
• The sum of their ages is equal to the inquiring guest's house number.

After thinking for a bit, the inquiring guest is forced to ask the host for additional information. The host responds, "My oldest child likes strawberry ice cream."

How old is the oldest child?

If you find that one too simple (or too hard!), you might try this one that I posted when this blog was just beginning.