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The Puzzler

An Age-Old Question about a Ship and Its Boiler

RAY: This is from my shipping series and it was sent in by Fred Gluck. He writes: "Back in the old days ships of yesteryear were driven by steam and it was often the case that the ship would outlive the engine and the boiler and they'd have to replace them.

"Now, take one ship for example. When you add the age of the ship and the age of its boiler, it totals 42 years. So S + B = 42. Now pay attention! The ship is twice as old as the boiler was when the ship was as old as the boiler is now."

The question is how old are they?

Think you know? Drop Ray a note!

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