the product of ages of a woman and her three children is 16555.find the difference between the ages of the eldest and youngest child

Question

This question was in cadet collage entry test and I cannot find the answer

Answer 1

there is not enough information to solve it "algebraiclly", so the secret is in the number 16555. Factorizing the number (easy to do) gives you 16555=5*11*7*43, so the answer is obviously 6.