Solving the Einstein puzzle Carol Mullen MST Summer Program 2006 Daemen College

The puzzle has been sent by 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).

BritSwedeDane Norwegian German RedGreenWhiteYellowBlue WaterCoffeeTeaMilkBeer Pall MallBlendsPrinceDunhill Bluemasters BirdDogCatHorseFish Puzzle Components

ORDER12345 NATIONALITY COLOR BEVERAGE 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.)

ORDER12345 NATIONALITYNorwegian (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. GreenWhite 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).

ORDER12345 NATIONALITYNorwegian (Hint #9) COLOR Blue (hint #14) GreenWhite 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.

ORDER12345 NATIONALITYNorwegian (Hint #9) Brit COLOR Blue (hint #14) Redgreenwhite 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

ORDER12345 NATIONALITYNorwegian (Hint #9) Brit COLOR YellowBlue (hint #14) Redgreenwhite 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.

ORDER12345 NATIONALITYNorwegian (Hint #9) Brit COLOR YellowBlue (hint #14) Redgreenwhite BEVERAGE water Milk (hint #8) coffee CIGAR Dunhill PET Horses

With the water in house 1, the Blends must be in house 2.

ORDER12345 NATIONALITYNorwegian (Hint #9) Brit COLOR YellowBlue (hint #14) Redgreenwhite BEVERAGE water Milk (hint #8) coffee CIGAR DunhillBlends 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.

ORDER12345 NATIONALITYNorwegian (Hint #9) Brit COLOR YellowBlue (hint #14) Redgreenwhite BEVERAGE water Milk (hint #8) coffeebeer CIGAR DunhillBlends Bluemaster s PET Horses

The only house with no beverage, is house 2, so the beverage in house 2 must be tea (its the only beverage left) and the Dane must live in House 2 (hint #3).

ORDER12345 NATIONALITYNorwegian (Hint #9) DaneBrit COLOR YellowBlue (hint #14) Redgreenwhite BEVERAGE watertea Milk (hint #8) coffeebeer CIGAR DunhillBlends Bluemaster s 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.

ORDER12345 NATIONALITYNorwegian (Hint #9) DaneBrit German COLOR YellowBlue (hint #14) Redgreenwhite BEVERAGE watertea Milk (hint #8) coffeebeer CIGAR DunhillBlendsPrince Bluemaster s PET Horses

That leaves the Swede to live in house 5 with his dog (hint 2).

ORDER12345 NATIONALITYNorwegian (Hint #9) DaneBrit German Swede COLOR YellowBlue (hint #14) Redgreenwhite BEVERAGE watertea Milk (hint #8) coffeebeer CIGAR DunhillBlendsPrince Bluemaster s PET HorsesDog

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.

ORDER12345 NATIONALITYNorwegian (Hint #9) DaneBrit German Swede COLOR YellowBlue (hint #14) Redgreenwhite BEVERAGE watertea Milk (hint #8) coffeebeer CIGAR DunhillBlendsPall Mall Prince Bluemaster s PET HorsesBirdsDog

The cat must be next to the blends, so it is in House 1. This leaves the fish a place only with German!

ORDER12345 NATIONALITYNorwegian (Hint #9) DaneBrit German Swede COLOR YellowBlue (hint #14) Redgreenwhite BEVERAGE watertea Milk (hint #8) coffeebeer CIGAR DunhillBlendsPall Mall Prince Bluemaster s PET CatHorsesBirdsFishDog