Solving the ‘Einstein” puzzle Carol Mullen MST Summer Program 2006 Daemen College
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Solving the ‘Einstein” puzzle
Carol Mullen
MST Summer Program 2006
Daemen College
The puzzle has been sent by email and has appeared on several websites. Einstein is said to have stated that only 2% of the population could solve it. Of that group, only 1% would be able to solve it within one hour.
The Einstein Puzzle
There are no tricks, just pure logic.1. In a street,there are 5 houses
painted 5 different colors. 2. In each house lives a person of
different nationality. 3.These 5 homeowners each drink a different kind of beverage, smoke a different brand of cigar, and keep a different pet.
The question is: "Who owns the fish?"
Hints: 1. The Brit lives in the red house. 2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets. 3. The Dane drinks tea. 4. The green house is next to and on the left of the white
house. 5. The green house's owner 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 center 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 the horse lives next to the man who
smokes Dunhill.12. The owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer.13. The German smokes Prince.14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks
water.
In order to solve the puzzle I had to make some assumptions:
1. The owner is the resident of each house. 2. One of the residents owns the fish. 3. The term neighbor in the last hint refers only to a directly adjacent neighbor. 4. The houses are on the same side of the street. 5. They are next to each other, and are ordered from left to right as you face them rather than standing in front of a house facing the street (i.e. facing the same direction as the house).
Brit Swede Dane Norwegian German
Red Green White Yellow Blue
Water Coffee Tea Milk Beer
Pall Mall Blends Prince Dunhill Bluemasters
Bird Dog Cat Horse Fish
Puzzle Components
ORDER 1 2 3 4 5
NATIONALITY
COLORBEVERAGE
CIGAR
PET
There are two straight forward or unambiguous hints.
#8. The resident of the center house drinks milk.
#9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
Once we put the Norwegian in the first house, Hint #14 leads us to conclude that House #2 is blue. (It is the only house next to the Norwegian.)
ORDER 1 2 3 4 5
NATIONALITY Norwegian
(Hint #9)
COLOR
Blue(hint #14)
BEVERAGE Milk(hint #8)
CIGAR
PET
Hints 4 and 5 indicate the following:
• Coffee is the
• beverage in the
• green house, which is
• next to and on the left
• of the white house.
Green White
Coffee
• The coffee-green-white ‘combo’ can only be placed with the coffee and green house at house #4.The green house cannot be first because it would be left of the blue, not the white. The second house has been established as blue, so cannot be green.
The center house has been established as where milk is the beverage, so it cannot be for the coffee drinker in the green house.
The combo is only accommodated in house 4 and 5. House 4 is green with the coffee drinker (hint 5). House 5 is white(hint 4).
ORDER 1 2 3 4 5
NATIONALITY Norwegian
(Hint #9)
COLOR
Blue(hint #14)
Green White
BEVERAGE Milk(hint #8)
Coffee
CIGAR
PET
The Brit lives in the red house, so the Brit cannot live in 2, 4, or 5 because they are not red. The Brit cannot live in 1 because it is occupied by the Norwegian. Therefore, the Brit must live in #3, which must be red.
ORDER 1 2 3 4 5
NATIONALITY Norwegian
(Hint #9)Brit
COLOR
Blue(hint #14)
Red green white
BEVERAGE Milk(hint #8)
coffee
CIGAR
PET
House #1 must be yellow, by default. (It is the only house left and yellow is the only color not yet assigned.)
The cigar in house #1 is Dunhill (hint #7).
Hint #11 tells us that the horses are next to the man who smokes Dunhill, so they are next to house #1 and must be house #2
ORDER 1 2 3 4 5
NATIONALITY Norwegian
(Hint #9)Brit
COLOR
Yellow Blue(hint #14)
Red green white
BEVERAGE Milk(hint #8)
coffee
CIGAR
Dunhill
PET
Horses
The person in the first house has to drink water.
(Milk is in the center--hint 9;
green house drinks coffee--hint 5;
Dane drinks tea--hint 3, so tea is not the beverage for the Norwegian who lives in the first house--hint 9; and
the one who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer--hint 12--however the owner of the yellow house, the first house smokes Dunhill).
With milk, coffee, tea and beer contraindicated for house 1, the beverage in house 1 must be water.
ORDER 1 2 3 4 5
NATIONALITY Norwegian
(Hint #9)Brit
COLOR
Yellow Blue(hint #14)
Red green white
BEVERAGE water Milk(hint #8)
coffee
CIGAR
Dunhill
PET
Horses
With the water in house 1, the Blends must be in house 2.
ORDER 1 2 3 4 5
NATIONALITY Norwegian
(Hint #9)Brit
COLOR
Yellow Blue(hint #14)
Red green white
BEVERAGE water Milk(hint #8)
coffee
CIGAR
Dunhill Blends
PET
Horses
Now, the only house with no beverage and no cigar is house 5, so the beer and the Bluemasters are in house 5.
ORDER 1 2 3 4 5
NATIONALITY Norwegian
(Hint #9)Brit
COLOR
Yellow Blue(hint #14)
Red green white
BEVERAGE water Milk(hint #8)
coffee beer
CIGAR
Dunhill Blends Bluemasters
PET
Horses
The only house with no beverage, is house 2, so the beverage in house 2 must be tea (it’s the only beverage left) and the Dane must live in House 2 (hint #3).
ORDER 1 2 3 4 5
NATIONALITY Norwegian
(Hint #9)Dane Brit
COLOR
Yellow Blue(hint #14)
Red green white
BEVERAGE water tea Milk(hint #8)
coffee beer
CIGAR
Dunhill Blends Bluemasters
PET
Horses
The German smokes Prince (hint 13). House 4 is the only one left that needs a nationality and a cigar. So, the German smokes Prince in house 4.
ORDER 1 2 3 4 5
NATIONALITY Norwegian
(Hint #9)Dane Brit German
COLOR
Yellow Blue(hint #14)
Red green white
BEVERAGE water tea Milk(hint #8)
coffee beer
CIGAR
Dunhill Blends Prince Bluemasters
PET
Horses
That leaves the Swede to live in house 5 with his dog (hint 2).
ORDER 1 2 3 4 5
NATIONALITY Norwegian
(Hint #9)Dane Brit German Swede
COLOR
Yellow Blue(hint #14)
Red green white
BEVERAGE water tea Milk(hint #8)
coffee beer
CIGAR
Dunhill Blends Prince Bluemasters
PET
Horses Dog
There is only one spot left for cigars so Pall Mall are in House 3.
Hint 6 tells us that Pall Mall rears birds, so the birds are also in House 3.
ORDER 1 2 3 4 5
NATIONALITY Norwegian
(Hint #9)Dane Brit German Swede
COLOR
Yellow Blue(hint #14)
Red green white
BEVERAGE water tea Milk(hint #8)
coffee beer
CIGAR
Dunhill Blends Pall Mall
Prince Bluemasters
PET
Horses Birds Dog
The cat must be next to the blends, so it is in House 1.
This leaves the fish a place only with German!
ORDER 1 2 3 4 5
NATIONALITY Norwegian
(Hint #9)Dane Brit German Swede
COLOR
Yellow Blue(hint #14)
Red green white
BEVERAGE water tea Milk(hint #8)
coffee beer
CIGAR
Dunhill Blends Pall Mall
Prince Bluemasters
PET
Cat Horses Birds Fish Dog
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