NEW CADET CHALLLENGE

Congratulations to Cadet Shavon Lloyd who correctly calculated that Diophantus was 84 years old when he died.  This was a tough question, not because it was tricky, but because it was intricate and required close attention to detail.  Worthy of note:  Past correct solutions to this question were submitted only by seniors in honors-level math.  BZ Shavon!

Congratulations to everyone else who submitted correct answers to the last challenge.  Here's a new one, and this one is a cat of a different color.  It's a famous puzzle that has challenged literally over a thousand year's worth of students.  Reportedly it was left on the tombstone of Diophantus, one of the Fathers of Algebra.  See if you can figure it out:

He was a boy for one-sixth of his life. After one-twelfth more, he acquired a beard. After another one-seventh, he married. In the fifth year after his marriage his son was born. The son lived half as many as his father. Diophantus died 4 years after his son. How old was Diophantus when he died?

This challenge will expire at 0730 on 19 September.  The prize will be a Middletown NJROTC pen and the winner must not only present the correct answer, but explain the solution.  Good luck!