It's a classic nonsense word problem, first appearing in 1841: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_captain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_captain

It's a classic nonsense word problem, first appearing in 1841: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_captain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_captain It's also been used to examine how students react to nonsensical word problems, and this is to some extent backed up by the school's statement. However, given the reputation of Chinese schools, it's entirely possible the teacher preparing the test simply threw it in because it looked like a word problem and the school is just saving face.