Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant
Then again, you might take the last line as referring only to the penultimate line:
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were there going to St. Ives?
In which case the answer is 7+7^2+7^3+7^4 = 2800
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Yes,
2800: If the narrator and the group were all travelling to St. Ives, the answer could also be
all except the narrator and the man, since the penultimate line of the rhyme specifies "kits, cats, sacks and wives". Thus the question is ambiguous about whether it is asking for the total number of entities travelling or just the number of kits, cats, sacks and wives. This would give an answer of 2800.