Age of the captain

The age of the captain is a nonsensical mathematical word problem which cannot be answered even though there seems to be plenty of information supplied. It was given for the first time by Gustave Flaubert in a letter to his sister Caroline in 1841:[1]

Puisque tu fais de la géométrie et de la trigonométrie, je vais te donner un problème : Un navire est en mer, il est parti de Boston chargé de coton, il jauge 200 tonneaux. Il fait voile vers le Havre, le grand mât est cassé, il y a un mousse sur le gaillard d’avant, les passagers sont au nombre de douze, le vent souffle N.-E.-E., l’horloge marque 3 heures un quart d’après-midi, on est au mois de mai… On demande l’âge du capitaine ?[1]

Since you are now studying geometry and trigonometry, I will give you a problem. A ship sails the ocean. It left Boston with a cargo of wool. It grosses 200 tons. It is bound for Le Havre. The mainmast is broken, the cabin boy is on deck, there are 12 passengers aboard, the wind is blowing East-North-East, the clock points to a quarter past three in the afternoon. It is the month of May. How old is the captain?[2]

More recently, a simpler version has been used to study how students react to word problems:

A captain owns 26 sheep and 10 goats. How old is the captain?[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Flaubert, Gustave; Correspondance, première série (1830–1850), G. Charpentier et Cie, Éditeurs, Paris, 1887
  2. ↑ Mathematical Quotations – F
  3. ↑ Verschaffel, L.; Greer, B.; de Corte, E.; Making Sense of Word Problems, Educational Studies in Mathematics, Vol. 42, No. 2 (2000), pp. 211–213]