Einstein's Riddle

Discussion in 'Quiz | Puzzles | Mathematics' started by Norvicute, Aug 22, 2008.

    Norvicute Certified CEan

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    Hope this is not a repost.
    It takes me a day to solved this...enjoy :cean:no google search please...

    ALBERT EINSTEIN'S RIDDLE

    There are no tricks, just pure logic, so good luck and don't give up.

    1. In a street there are five houses, painted five different colours.
    2. In each house lives a person of different nationality
    3. These five homeowners each drink a different kind of beverage, smoke different brand of cigar and keep a different pet.

    THE QUESTION: WHO OWNS THE FISH?

    HINTS

    1. The British lives in a red house.
    2. The Swedish keeps dogs as pets.
    3. The Danish drinks tea.
    4. The Green house is next to, and on the left of the White house.
    5. The owner of the Green house drinks coffee.
    6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
    7. The owner of the Yellow house smokes Dunhill.
    8. The man living in the centre house drinks milk.
    9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
    10. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
    11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
    12. The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
    13. The German smokes Prince.
    14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
    15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbour who drinks water.

    ALBERT EINSTEIN WROTE THIS RIDDLE EARLY DURING THE 19th CENTURY. HE SAID THAT 98% OF THE WORLD POPULATION WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO SOLVE IT.

    :happy:
    Norvicute, Aug 22, 2008
    #1
    • The MOD Squad

    Kaustubh Katdare The Good Admin

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    Boy, we solved this puzzle in the training session on decision making. Have a good time cracking this one, fellas.
    Kaustubh Katdare, Aug 22, 2008
    #2

    kidakaka Addict

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    CAT problem :) .. dont waste more than 25 minutes on this
    kidakaka, Aug 23, 2008
    #3

    sonasathish Certified CEan

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    Bcoz the hints doesn't provide any info regarding the fish. So there may be a chance that all the five houses would have fish. I hope this may be the right answer. Isn't it?:rolleyes:
    sonasathish, Aug 23, 2008
    #4

    bayazidahmed Certified CEan

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    Sorry to say, but there is a unique solution to this problem.There are enough hints to fill all the other places.
    bayazidahmed, Aug 24, 2008
    #5

    barryn56 Certified CEan

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    The German keeps fishes. Construct a 5 by 5 grid and note that each item is mentioned once except for smokes (2 x dunhill and 2 x Blends) and pets (fish missing). As you go through the clues there will come a point where the neighbour can only be one choice, then it is easy...
    barryn56, Aug 24, 2008
    #6

    Munguti Certified CEan

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    Yeah the german keeps fish:happy:. It took time but i eventually figured it out. nice riddle.
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    Munguti, Aug 24, 2008
    #7

    swati_akasheeni Certified CEan

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    german will keep the fish,this riddle can be solved by creating a table according to the giving conditions and ultimately result comes out to be german.
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    swati_akasheeni, Aug 27, 2008
    #8
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    Kaustubh Katdare The Good Admin

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    Okay, now someone will have to explain the whole decision making process.
    Kaustubh Katdare, Aug 27, 2008
    #9

    AnkitaDeshpande Certified CEan

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    right.
    the ans is GERMAN
    but it comes after assumptions...
    AnkitaDeshpande, Aug 31, 2008
    #10
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    gohm Moderator

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    Nobody owns the fish as ownership denotes material possession which is an illusion and maya. The fish is a free being of the cosmos.

    or if you do not like the exostential answer...
    the German, laugh. Love this puzzle.
    gohm, Aug 31, 2008
    #11

    bayazidahmed Certified CEan

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    assumptions? what sort of assumptions?
    bayazidahmed, Aug 31, 2008
    #12

    anki_0305 Certified CEan

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    THE EXPLANATION FOR THE RIDDLE IS HERE

    House no. V IV III II I


    Nationality GERMAN SWEDISH BRITISH DANISH NORWEGIAN
    Drink COFFEE BEAR MILK TEA WATER
    Smoke PRINCE BLUE MASTERPALL MALL BLENDS DUNHILL
    Colour GREEN WHITE RED BLUE YELLOW
    PetFISH DOGS BIRDS HORSE CATS
    anki_0305, Sep 8, 2008
    #13

    simplycoder Maniac

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    Ok, I will take a shot at this one.
    I shall use the table approach.
    [TABLE="class: grid"]
    [TR]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]1[/TD]
    [TD]2[/TD]
    [TD]3[/TD]
    [TD]4[/TD]
    [TD]5[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Nationality[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Color[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Ciggarates[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Drinks[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Pets[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [/TABLE]


    Let us see for the independent clues now.

    8. The man living in the centre house drinks milk.
    9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
    14.The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.

    Let us now increment the table:
    [TABLE="class: grid"]
    [TR]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]1[/TD]
    [TD]2[/TD]
    [TD]3[/TD]
    [TD]4[/TD]
    [TD]5[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Nationality[/TD]
    [TD]Norway[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Color[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]Blue[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Ciggarates[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Drinks[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]Milk[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Pets[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [/TABLE]

    Take a look at following clues:
    1.The British lives in a red house.
    4. The Green house is next to, and on the left of the White house.
    So color of 1st house cannot be Green,White or Red. So its Yellow.
    and from this
    7. The owner of the Yellow house smokes Dunhill.
    11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
    [TABLE="class: grid"]
    [TR]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]1[/TD]
    [TD]2[/TD]
    [TD]3[/TD]
    [TD]4[/TD]
    [TD]5[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Nationality[/TD]
    [TD]Norway[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Color[/TD]
    [TD]Yellow[/TD]
    [TD]Blue[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Ciggarates[/TD]
    [TD]Dunhill[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Drinks[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]Milk[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Pets[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]Horses[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [/TABLE]

    From the next clues:
    4. The Green house is next to, and on the left of the White house.
    5. The owner of the Green house drinks coffee.
    So house number 3 can neither be green nor white. So its red.
    and hence house number 4 and 5 are green and white respectively.
    Also from
    1. The British lives in a red house.Brit lives in house number 3.
    5. The owner of the Green house drinks coffee.
    [TABLE="class: grid"]
    [TR]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]1[/TD]
    [TD]2[/TD]
    [TD]3[/TD]
    [TD]4[/TD]
    [TD]5[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Nationality[/TD]
    [TD]Norway[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]Brit[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Color[/TD]
    [TD]Yellow[/TD]
    [TD]Blue[/TD]
    [TD]Red
    [/TD]
    [TD]Green
    [/TD]
    [TD]White
    [/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Ciggarates[/TD]
    [TD]Dunhill[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Drinks[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]Milk[/TD]
    [TD]Coffee[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Pets[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]Horses[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [/TABLE]

    Further:
    12. The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
    3. The Danish drinks tea.
    The only drink left for house number 1 is water.
    and hence by
    15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbour who drinks water.
    Thus house number 2 resident smokes Blends as his ciggarate.
    [TABLE="class: grid"]
    [TR]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]1[/TD]
    [TD]2[/TD]
    [TD]3[/TD]
    [TD]4[/TD]
    [TD]5[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Nationality[/TD]
    [TD]Norway[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]Brit[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Color[/TD]
    [TD]Yellow[/TD]
    [TD]Blue[/TD]
    [TD]Red[/TD]
    [TD]Green[/TD]
    [TD]White[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Ciggarates[/TD]
    [TD]Dunhill[/TD]
    [TD]Blends[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Drinks[/TD]
    [TD]Water[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]Milk[/TD]
    [TD]Coffee[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Pets[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]Horses[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [/TABLE]

    Look at this clue:
    12. The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
    Now the only house which satisfies this is house number 5
    Thus resident of house number-5 drinks beer and smokes BlueMasters and the only drink left behind is Tea.
    But we also know this from:
    3. The Danish drinks tea.

    [TABLE="class: grid"]
    [TR]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]1[/TD]
    [TD]2[/TD]
    [TD]3[/TD]
    [TD]4[/TD]
    [TD]5[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Nationality[/TD]
    [TD]Norway[/TD]
    [TD]Danish[/TD]
    [TD]Brit[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Color[/TD]
    [TD]Yellow[/TD]
    [TD]Blue[/TD]
    [TD]Red[/TD]
    [TD]Green[/TD]
    [TD]White[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Ciggarates[/TD]
    [TD]Dunhill[/TD]
    [TD]Blends[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]Blue Masters
    [/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Drinks[/TD]
    [TD]Water[/TD]
    [TD]Tea[/TD]
    [TD]Milk[/TD]
    [TD]Coffee[/TD]
    [TD]Beer
    [/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Pets[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]Horses[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [/TABLE]

    13. The German smokes Prince.
    This is satisfied only by house number 4.
    Thus house number 5 is Swedish.
    From this clue
    2. The Swedish keeps dogs as pets.
    Pet in house 5 is dogs.
    The only smoke remained is PallMall which is forced to place in house number 3.
    [TABLE="class: grid"]
    [TR]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]1[/TD]
    [TD]2[/TD]
    [TD]3[/TD]
    [TD]4[/TD]
    [TD]5[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Nationality[/TD]
    [TD]Norway[/TD]
    [TD]Danish[/TD]
    [TD]Brit[/TD]
    [TD]German[/TD]
    [TD]Swedish[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Color[/TD]
    [TD]Yellow[/TD]
    [TD]Blue[/TD]
    [TD]Red[/TD]
    [TD]Green[/TD]
    [TD]White[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Ciggarates[/TD]
    [TD]Dunhill[/TD]
    [TD]Blends[/TD]
    [TD]PallMall[/TD]
    [TD]Prince[/TD]
    [TD]Blue Masters[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Drinks[/TD]
    [TD]Water[/TD]
    [TD]Tea[/TD]
    [TD]Milk[/TD]
    [TD]Coffee[/TD]
    [TD]Beer[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Pets[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]Horses[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]Dogs[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [/TABLE]

    Last set of clues required::
    6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
    thus Pets in house number 3 are birds.
    and with help of this clue:
    10. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
    Owner of house number 1, owns cats as his pets.
    Thus we get the following.
    [TABLE="class: grid"]
    [TR]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]1[/TD]
    [TD]2[/TD]
    [TD]3[/TD]
    [TD]4[/TD]
    [TD]5[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Nationality[/TD]
    [TD]Norway[/TD]
    [TD]Danish[/TD]
    [TD]Brit[/TD]
    [TD]German[/TD]
    [TD]Swedish[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Color[/TD]
    [TD]Yellow[/TD]
    [TD]Blue[/TD]
    [TD]Red[/TD]
    [TD]Green[/TD]
    [TD]White[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Ciggarates[/TD]
    [TD]Dunhill[/TD]
    [TD]Blends[/TD]
    [TD]PallMall[/TD]
    [TD]Prince[/TD]
    [TD]Blue Masters[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Drinks[/TD]
    [TD]Water[/TD]
    [TD]Tea[/TD]
    [TD]Milk[/TD]
    [TD]Coffee[/TD]
    [TD]Beer[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Pets[/TD]
    [TD]Cats[/TD]
    [TD]Horses[/TD]
    [TD]Birds[/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]Dogs[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [/TABLE]

    So the only place left for fish is in house number 4.
    [TABLE="class: grid"]
    [TR]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD][/TD]
    [TD]1[/TD]
    [TD]2[/TD]
    [TD]3[/TD]
    [TD]4[/TD]
    [TD]5[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Nationality[/TD]
    [TD]Norway[/TD]
    [TD]Danish[/TD]
    [TD]Brit[/TD]
    [TD]German[/TD]
    [TD]Swedish[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Color[/TD]
    [TD]Yellow[/TD]
    [TD]Blue[/TD]
    [TD]Red[/TD]
    [TD]Green[/TD]
    [TD]White[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Ciggarates[/TD]
    [TD]Dunhill[/TD]
    [TD]Blends[/TD]
    [TD]PallMall[/TD]
    [TD]Prince[/TD]
    [TD]Blue Masters[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Drinks[/TD]
    [TD]Water[/TD]
    [TD]Tea[/TD]
    [TD]Milk[/TD]
    [TD]Coffee[/TD]
    [TD]Beer[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD]Pets[/TD]
    [TD]Cats[/TD]
    [TD]Horses[/TD]
    [TD]Birds[/TD]
    [TD]Fish[/TD]
    [TD]Dogs[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [/TABLE]

    This house belongs to the german.
    And hence German owns the fish.
    simplycoder, Sep 4, 2011
    #14

    vinod1993 Certified CEan

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    vinod1993, Jul 24, 2012
    #15

    CE Designer Ace

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    No assumptions, only logic can be used to get the right answer and be sure of it. The German has the fish. Don't be tempted to assume, we engineers can't afford to do that. We are the ones who will be held accountable you know.
    CE Designer, Jul 25, 2012
    #16

    CE Designer Ace

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    I may post the explanation later, took me approximately 1 hour to solve. I too used a grid.
    CE Designer, Jul 25, 2012
    #17

    KenJackson Apprentice

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    simplecoder, I'm pretty sure that is the longest post I have ever seen in any forum.
    Did it turn out the way you expected?
    KenJackson, Jul 29, 2012
    #18

    simplycoder Maniac

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    Actually , when I wrote the solution, it was formatted properly. Some tags might have been changed and hence the effect..
    simplycoder, Jul 29, 2012
    #19

    zaveri Star

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    We solved smaller versions of such puzzles in placement-training sessions. you have to use a matrix-grid for this.
    zaveri, Jul 31, 2012
    #20

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