RAY: This puzzler was sent in by Tony Bys. He writes:

"After the long, miserable spring we had here in the great Northeast, we finally had a nice sunny, warm day. It happened to coincide with my 12-year old son being home from school on summer vacation. I asked him if he wanted to go for a ride, and he said, "Not really, Dad."

Then I said those magic words: "ice cream." He quickly changed his mind.

As were riding over to the nearby creamery, he turned to me, and said, "I know that one and six is six. But, is two and five 10?"

"No", I replied, "two and five is twelve."

"Then what's 3 and 3?", he asked.

"Seventeen," I responded.

"Oh yeah", He said. "I think I've got it now."

The question is, what the heck were Tony and his son talking about?

TOM: Let me see if I've got this right. They're in the car. They're driving to the creamery. Is that right?

RAY: I didn't precisely say that. And that's a hint.

Got a clue what going on with the funny math? Drop Ray a note via

http://cartalk.cars.com/Mail/puzzler-answer.html

And tell him your answer.

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]