2, 2, and 9

arrgh! why? why?

interesting... i'm with you shani - the OLDEST has blue eyes, so it is singular therefore the younger two could be twins. it's the trees that i'm not getting (404 - we need a puzzled smiley!)

i think i've got it! you need to have the ages ascending shani

To get the result we need to know the number of trees otherwise the ages could be:-

1-1-36, 1-2-18, 1-3-12, 1-4-9, 2-2-9, 2-3-6, 3-3-4

The ages doen't need to all be different you just need one to be higher i.e. the oldest.

It's not something silly like when the person says "Then I don't know..." they are saying "I don't know what colour the oldest child's eyes are" - is it?

hmmm... i'm supposed to be working!

the ages ascending... it's not something like if you write out 2+2+9 it looks like the symbol for infinity or such, as in, there are infinite numbers of trees out there (especially if you don't just count the plants, but also the trees as in structures)? or that when you speak aloud, twoplustwoplusnine or such will make a sound that means something else altogether? some other weird sort of lateral thinking?
why on earth should it matter if you make the sum of 2,2,9 or the sum of 9,2,2??? i'm lost...

you forgot 1-6-6 Tricky...
...and @shani - it's not that it matters when adding up, but when working out the product (multiplying from left to right would give different answers for 4-3-3 ie. 4x3=12; 12x3=36 BUT 3x3=6; 6x4=24 so go from youngest to oldest when working out)

Well, I will tell you one more time: it is pure logic, pure mathematics. No hidden catch in the puzzle.

And since 404 has given the right answer then I suppose there is at least two of us who know the solution

@insomniac:
The order in which you multiply three numbers doesn't matter. Never ever. 4x3x3 = 3x3x4 = 3x4x3 = 36

oh. well i got the answer and i'm no good at maths then. LOL - of COURSE you're right - simple error (and i'm VERY embarrassed and will whip myself immediately). anyway, i was trying to help (good intentions) and just spotted the dscending ages thing was different from the way i was thinking. u r right. it doesn't matter. but the other point i made was important, now wasn't it?

ok - bored of that now. try this one (einstein's not mine):

there are 5 houses in 5 different colors. in each house lives a person with a different nationality. the 5 owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet. no owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar, or drink the same beverage.

Who owns the fish?

Hints:

The Brit lives in the red house.
The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
The Dane drinks tea.
The green house is on the left of the white house.
The green homeowner drinks coffee.
The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
The man living in the center house drinks milk.
The Norwegian lives in the first house.
The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats.
the man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
the owner who smokes Bluemaster drinks beer.
the german smokes Prince.
the norwegian lives next to the blue house.
the man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water.

Einstein said 98% of the world could not solve this but you will if you're logical.

Well the answer given by 404 to the kids' ages question ie 9,2 and 2 is the only correct answer and the key lies in the number of trees statement. Product of ages was 36, sum of ages = to number of trees. Now takes all the possible combinations of ages and (sum= no. of trees) 1,6,6(13) 2,2,9(13) 3,4,4(11) 1,1,36(38) 1,4,9(14) 1,2,18(21) 1,3,12(16)
2,3,6(11). 2 possible combinations gave the same result when summed up. These are 1+6+6=13 and 9+2+2=13 so there was still a degree of ambiguity which was resolved when the friend mentioned "oldest". From the above it is clear that 2,2, and 9 is the only possible combination which satisfies all the conditions.

Insomniac you've done it again. You must be on a mission to turn us all into insomniacs too. Red, blue, white, english, dane, birds, fish aaaaaargh! sob:( Can't solve it , can't go to sleep.