Henry Ernest Dudeney/Modern Puzzles/24 - Simple Arithmetic

Modern Puzzles by Henry Ernest Dudeney: $24$

"Simple" Arithmetic

Two gentlemen with an eccentric approach to philosophy were pinned down by your investigative reporter.

They wished to riddle my mathematical understanding.

"Our two ages combined," said the first, "is $44$."

"Don't be silly," said the other, "it's $1280$."

They looked at me and said, "You see, we didn't tell you how we were combining them."

It was clear to me that the first number was their difference and the second was their product.

Now, how old were these two gentlemen?

Note that the above is a contemporary paraphrase of the original statement of this problem, which used language and concepts which are likely to cause offence in today's society.

Sources

• 1926: Henry Ernest Dudeney: Modern Puzzles ... (previous) ... (next): Arithmetical and Algebraical Problems: Age and Kinship Puzzles: $24$. -- "Simple" Arithmetic
• 1968: Henry Ernest Dudeney: 536 Puzzles & Curious Problems ... (previous) ... (next): Arithmetical and Algebraical Problems: Age Puzzles: $35$. "Simple" Arithmetic