What 12 gifts were given in the 12 days of Christmas?

Answer 1

Many people add up the number of gifts such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 and think that this amount (78) is the right number. It is not, because you have to add up all the consecutive gifts for every day.

Day 1- receives 1 gift

Day 2- receives 3 additional gifts, making 4 total

Day 3- receives 6 additional gifts, making 10 total

Day 4- receives 10 additional gifts, making 20 total

Day 5- receives 15 additional gifts, making 35 total

Day 6- receives 21 additional gifts, making 56 total

Day 7- receives 28 additional gifts, making 84 total

Day 8- receives 36 additional gifts, making 120 total

Day 9- receives 45 additional gifts, making 165 total

Day 10- receives 55 additional gifts, making 220 total

Day 11- receives 66 additional gifts, making 286 total

Day 12- receives 78 additional gifts, making 364 total gifts received.

Answer 2

Twelve lords a-leaping,

Eleven ladies dancing,

Ten pipers piping,

Nine drummers drumming,

Eight maids a-milking,

Seven swans a-swimming,

Six geese a-laying,

Five gold rings, (and people go berserk at this point)

Four Colly birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree.

As a note, Four Colly birds is now 'Four Calling birds' which are black birds).

As of 2007, the cost of this series of gifts was $19,507.19.

Answer 3

a partride a pear tree

2 turtle doves

3 french hens

4 calling birds

5 golden rings

6 geese-a-laying

7 swans-a-swimming

8 maids-a-milking

9 ladies dancing

10 lords-a-leaping

11 pipers piping

12 drummers drumming

Answer 4

What people often do is they do the math for the 12th day and forget that that number should be added to the number of gifts on each of the other previous 11 days to get the total number of gifts. See math below.

DAY / GIFTS THAT DAY / TOTAL NUMBER OF GIFTS

Day 1 / 1 / 1

Day 2 / 2+1=3 / 4

Day 3 / 3+2+1=6 / 10

Day 4 / 4+3+2+1=10 / 20

Day 5 / 5+4+3+2+1=25 / 45

Day 6 / 6+5+4+3+2+1=31 / 76

Day 7 / 7+6+5+4+3+2+1=38 / 114

Day 8 / 8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1=46 / 160

Day 9 / 9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1=55 / 215

Day 10 / 10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1=65 / 280

Day 11 / 11+10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1=76 / 350

Day 12 / On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Twelve drummers drumming, Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree=88 / 438 total gifts

Answer

The above Answer (438) is not correct but the idea shown is.

11+10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1=66 not 76

The correct answer is 364. "A partridge in a pear tree" is given 12 times, "Two turtle doves" are given 11 times,... "Twelve drummers drumming" are given just once. The following lines keep track of the entire song.

1 presents are given 12 times for a total of 12 presents.

2 presents are given 11 times for a total of 22 presents.

3 presents are given 10 times for a total of 30 presents.

4 presents are given 9 times for a total of 36 presents.

5 presents are given 8 times for a total of 40 presents.

6 presents are given 7 times for a total of 42 presents.

7 presents are given 6 times for a total of 42 presents.

8 presents are given 5 times for a total of 40 presents.

9 presents are given 4 times for a total of 36 presents.

10 presents are given 3 times for a total of 30 presents.

11 presents are given 2 times for a total of 22 presents.

12 presents are given 1 times for a total of 12 presents.

Adding up all the presents I get: 364

Answer

OK, we're probably all over thinking this a tick, but both answers are correct. There were 78 actual presents given:

12 Partridges

11 Pairs of Turtle Doves

10 Sets French Hens

9 Sets of Calling Birds

8 Sets of 5 Golden Rings

7 Sets of Geese a-Laying

6 Sets of Swans a-Swimming

5 Sets of Maids-a-Milking

4 Sets of Ladies Dancing

3 Sets of Lords-a-Leaping

2 Sets of Pipers Piping and finally

1 set of Drummers Drumming.

This issue is that each gift, regardless of the quantity of items that make up the gift is still just one gift.

However, the total quantity of ITEMS given is correctly 364 (spread out over 78 individual gifts).

In the end, it's pretty much up to you as to which way you want to look at the question. If you are asked how many presents were given then the answer is 78. If you are asked how many ITEMS were given, the answer is 364.

Answer 5

• A Partridge in a Pear tree,
• Two Turtle Doves,
• Three French Hens,
• Four Calling Birds.
• Five Golden Rings,
• Six Geese a laying.
• Seven Swans a swimming,
• Eight Maids a milking,
• Nine Ladies dancing,
• Ten Lords a leaping,
• Eleven Pipers piping, and
• Twelve Drummers drumming.

Answer 6

12 Drummers drumming

11 Pipers piping

10 Lords-a-Leaping

9 Ladies dancing

8 Maids-a-Milking

7 Swans-a-Swimming

6 Geese-a-laying

5 Gold Rings

4 Calling Birds

3 French Hens

2 Turtle Doves

and a Partridge in a Pear tree!

Answer 7

On the first day...a partridge in a pear tree.

On the second day...two turtledoves.

On the third day...three French hens.

On the fourth day...four calling birds.

On the fifth day...five golden rings.

On the sixth day...six geese-a-laying.

On the seventh day...seven swans-a-swimming.

On the eighth day...eight maids-a-milking.

On the ninth day...nine ladies dancing.

On the tenth day...ten lords-a-leaping.

On the eleventh day...eleven pipers piping.

On the twelfth day...twelve drummers drumming.

Answer 8

1. Partridge in a Pear Tree
2. Turtle Doves
3. French Hens
4. Colly Birds
5. Gold Rings
6. Swans-a-Swimming
7. Geese-a-Laying
8. Maids-a-Milking
9. Ladies Dancing
10. Lords-a-Leaping
11. Pipers Piping
12. Drummers Drumming

Answer 9

364 total gifts are given.