Mr Smith riddle has been doing rounds in social media, and the topic quite interesting, to say the least. The thrilling bit stems from the fact that the question is honestly not that clear and, given that it is a riddle, raises several answers that could all be deemed correct.
I can’t wait to give my side of it, so shall we get things underway?
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Mr Smith Had 4 Daughters Riddle
Riddle: Mr Smith had 4 daughters. Each daughter had 4 brothers. How many kids does Mr. Smith have?
Check out the following 4 answers of Mr. Smith Had Four Daughters riddle
Answer 1
If Mr Smith has 4 daughters and each daughter had a brother, Mr. Smith has 5 children.
This answer argues that if the daughters have one brother each, there is only one brother. This being the case, each of Mr. Smith’s daughter will claim that she has one brother, yet quoting the same brother.
Therefore, Mr. Smith has 4 daughters and a son, adding to a total of 5 kids.
Answer 2
If each of Mr Smith’s daughters has a brother, this could mean that they have brothers separately. Probably Mr. Smith has four wives or baby moms, each of who apparently has his daughter. Then, the women have sons, one each, who is not Mr. Smith’s sons.
In this case, Mr. Smith has 4 kids, that is, the 4 daughters. The brothers in the riddle are not his sons.
Nevertheless, there is a twist to this answer. Mr. Smith could be having 4 daughters from different mothers and is probably married to one of the mothers. The married mom has a daughter and a son with Mr. Smith, while the rest have sons from other marriages.
Therefore, Mr. Smith will have 5 children, one son and one daughter from his marriage, and 3 other daughters.
Wait! There is also this version, where Mr. Smith has four daughters from different mothers and a son from yet a different woman. Even if the children are from other mothers, they are still siblings since they share a dad. The daughters can each comfortably say that they have one brother.
Thus being said, Mr. Smith has a total of 5 children.
Answer 3
Mr Smith could have had four failed marriages. In each marriage, he had a daughter and a son. Therefore, each daughter has a brother, but they all Mr. Smith’s sons.
Thus, Mr. Smith has 8 children in total, arguing from this perspective.
Answer 4
Mr Smith ‘had’ 4 daughters, and each daughter ‘had’ 4 brothers. How many kids ‘does’ Mr. Smith have?
‘Had’ is in the past, so it means that Mr. Smith had daughters, which he currently doesn’t have. Each daughter ‘had’ a brother, which means that they now don’t have the brother(s).
In this instance, then Mr. Smith’s kids could have passed away, and he currently has no kid.
Alternatively, one or more of the kids could have passed away, and he currently does not have 4 daughters. In this case, the answer will not be exact.
Bottom Line
Being a riddle, this statement can have as many dimensions as you want. The best part of it is that this is the beauty of a puzzle: the arguments it raises.
