How long did Diophantus live?

[eouirai]

Diophantus spent one sixth of his life as a child, one twelfth as a young man, and one seventh as a bachelor. Five years after he was married he had a son who died 4 years before his father at half his father's final age. How long did Diophantus live?

1/2x +5 = when son was born
x-(1/2x +5) = how long son lived

...

 

[Denis]

Not again! :shock:

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=How ... arch&meta=

 

[eouirai]

so uhh, can you help me out? I dont get it.

 

[eouirai]

Never mind. Thank you. I did not see the explanation on the bottom.

 

[mmm4444bot]

Without looking, my guess is 84.

84 is the Least Common Multiple of 6, 7, 12, and 28.

I base my guess on an assumption that the riddle is cooked-up to yield a whole-number age.