Twelve Days of Christmas Puzzle ...

[wdeversole]

OK people - how many gifts did my true love give to me in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

First one to answer gets ..
well, no prize, but the knowledge you are a great puzzle solver !!

 

[dippydawg]

364 total.

1 on the first day. ( 1 partridge in a pear tree.)
3 on the second day (1 partridge and 2 turtle doves )
6 on the third day ( 1 partridge, 2 turtle doves, 3 french hens )
10 on the fourth day ( 1 partridge, 2 turtle doves, 3 french hens, 4 calling birds )

and so on up to 78 gifts (12+11+10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1) on the 12th day.

Add up all the days and it's 364.

 

[BriarRosie]

OK people - how many gifts did my true love give to me in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

First one to answer gets ..
well, no prize, but the knowledge you are a great puzzle solver !!

I don't know if I added them all correctly, but I'll tell you how I got my number.

My guess is 364 gifts, total. Each day, they gave that number of gifts,
plus all the gifts from every day previous.

So on Day 2, the gift count is 4. I know there's a mathematical formula
for this, but it's been years since I can tell you what it is.

 

[BriarRosie]

364 total.

1 on the first day. ( 1 partridge in a pear tree.)
3 on the second day (1 partridge and 2 turtle doves )
6 on the third day ( 1 partridge, 2 turtle doves, 3 french hens )
10 on the fourth day ( 1 partridge, 2 turtle doves, 3 french hens, 4 calling birds )

and so on up to 78 gifts (12+11+10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1) on the 12th day.

Add up all the days and it's 364.

Wow, you posted a smidge quicker than me! LOL!
I suppose my answer must be right, too.

 

[wdeversole]

All I can say is ..

You DISers sure are an intelligent bunch !!
Either that, or you have had practice counting gifts !!

(At the party where I heard this, most people INSISTED the answer was 78 - I was one of the few that came up with 364)

 

[dippydawg]

What they don't mention is that you also get 140 extra mouths to feed and a lot trampled birds.

 

[BriarRosie]

What they don't mention is that you also get 140 extra mouths to feed and a lot trampled birds.

Not to mention lots of uh...poop cleanup. Yuck. (And I'm not talking about
the milkmaids, ladies or lords, thankyouverymuch!)

And Taters, we'll validate you any ol' time you need us to.

 

[JeanJoe]

On the n'th day of Christmas, your true love would give you [n * (n+1)] /2 presents. (This is a simple formula for summing the integers from 1 to n, which you can figure out pretty easily on your own.)

But, to get the TOTAL present count, you would need the summation from 1 to n of [ n * (n+1) ] /2.

It turns out the the TOTAL present count by the n'th day would be [ n * (n+1) * (n+2) ] / 6. (I did NOT figure this one out.)

Plugging 12 into this formula for the 12 days yields: (12*13*14) / 6 = 364, as reported above.

I'm sure you would all be fascinated to know that this same formula can calculate the number of balls in a triangular pyramid in which each edge contains n balls.

===

So, if Christmas in VMK is like VMK Halloween, and there ends up being actually,say, 30 days of Christmas, your poor true love will be out 4,960 presents.

Happy Holidays to you all.

So on Day 2, the gift count is 4. I know there's a mathematical formula
for this, but it's been years since I can tell you what it is.

 

[Alyce]

On the n'th day of Christmas, your true love would give you [n * (n+1)] /2 presents. (This is a simple formula for summing the integers from 1 to n, which you can figure out pretty easily on your own.)

But, to get the TOTAL present count, you would need the summation from 1 to n of [ n * (n+1) ] /2.

It turns out the the TOTAL present count by the n'th day would be [ n * (n+1) * (n+2) ] / 6. (I did NOT figure this one out.)

Plugging 12 into this formula for the 12 days yields: (12*13*14) / 6 = 364, as reported above.

I'm sure you would all be fascinated to know that this same formula can calculate the number of balls in a triangular pyramid in which each edge contains n balls.

===

So, if Christmas in VMK is like VMK Halloween, and there ends up being actually,say, 30 days of Christmas, your poor true love will be out 4,960 presents.

Happy Holidays to you all.

I like that formula better !

4,960 presents ? Bring em on !

​

 

[kaitykatz7]

I like that formula better !

4,960 presents ? Bring em on !

​

I have 4,960 ned pins! Want em'?LOL kidding!
Happy Holidays all!

 

[wdeversole]

From CNN Money Online

It will cost your true love 6.1% more
Estimated price of '12 Days of Christmas' gift list up sharply due to gas, gold prices and bird flu.

Full article:

http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/28/news/funny/holiday_12days_pricetag/