Riddle Answer: “As Many Brothers as Sisters” — How Many Boys and Girls Are There?

The answer is 7 children: 4 girls and 3 boys.

Here’s the riddle again: A girl in the family has as many brothers as sisters. But each of her brothers has twice as many sisters as brothers. How many boys and girls are there?

Now work it from each side:

• From a girl’s side: pick any one of the girls. She has 3 sisters (the other girls) and 3 brothers. 3 = 3 — she has exactly as many brothers as sisters ✓
• From a boy’s side: pick any one of the boys. He has 4 sisters (all the girls) and 2 brothers (the other boys). 4 is exactly twice 2 ✓

Both clues check out with 4 girls and 3 boys — and no other combination satisfies both at once.

The trap is forgetting to take the speaker out of their own count. A girl doesn’t count herself as her own sister, and a boy doesn’t count himself as his own brother. If you kept getting answers that almost worked, that’s the step that was biting you. 🤔

Did you solve it, or did the trap get you? Confess in the comments — and try tomorrow’s riddle on our page.