Brothers and Sisters

The problem
Tom: "I have the same number of brothers as sisters."Jane: "I have twice as many brothers as sisters."TomJanehow many boys and girls in the family?

Tom says: "I have the same number of brothers as sisters."

Tom's sister Jane says: "I have twice as many brothers as sisters."

How many boys and how many girls are in the family?

Tempting (but wrong)
"3 of each? 2 and 4?"try 3 B + 3 G:Tom: 2 vs 3 ✗try 2 B + 4 G:Tom: 1 vs 4 ✗

The instinct is to read Tom's statement as "boys = girls." If that were true, Jane would have BB brothers and B−1B - 1 sisters — that's BB−1\tfrac{B}{B-1} ratio, not 2.

People then start guessing pairs: 3 boys and 3 girls? 2 and 4? Most attempts fail one statement or the other and the problem feels mis-specified.

The bug: a child counts their siblings, not themselves. Tom's "same number" isn't B=GB = G — it's B−1=GB - 1 = G.