As i was going to st.ives i met a man with seven wives each wife had seven sacks each sack had seven cats each cat had seven kits each kit had seven mice how many were going to st.ives?

How many answers can you get from this? ONE PERSON was going to St. Ives, that was YOU.

The correct answer is ONE. You are the person going to Saint Ives. The fact that they use the term "you MET" a man, indicates he must be traveling in the opposite direction. If you had overtaken the man while he was on his way to Saint Ives then they would have said, you either "saw a man" or " caught up with a man", not "met". For two entities to "meet" they must be traveling in the opposite direction.

That leaves YOU, you were going to Saint Ives, you and you ALONE.. so yes the answer is ONE!

Plain and simple, why is this made so complicated. The original riddle was that on the way to Saint Ives, You met a man with 7 wives, etc etc. The original implied that you "met" the man, if you had caught up with the man, then the term would have been different. Back when the riddle was written the term "MET" meant that the person you "met" was obviously traveling the opposite direction, you were going to Saint Ives, the man was traveling in the opposite direction of you when you "met" him. Leaving only ONE possible solution. 1 person was going to Saint Ives, YOU, the man was NOT going to Saint Ives but rather traveling in the opposite direction.

Answer

The answer is 1, because only YOU are going to St. Ives. You just met a man, but that doesn't mean he's going to St. Ives.