This tricky riddle asks: “7 men have 7 wives. Each man and each wife have 7 children. How many people are there?” Many people overthink the wording and end up with the wrong answer.
The correct interpretation is that there are 7 couples, not 7 wives for each man. Each couple shares 7 children, giving a total of 49 children.
Adding 7 men + 7 wives + 49 children gives the correct answer: 63 people. The puzzle is a fun reminder to read carefully before doing the math.
