Einstein's riddle - logic puzzle
There are 5 houses in 5 different colors. In each house lives a person with a different nationality. The 5 owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet. No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar, or drink the same beverage.
Somebody owns a fish. The question is: who?
Hints:
Somebody owns a fish. The question is: who?
Hints:
- The Brit lives in the red house.
- The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
- The Dane drinks tea.
- The green house is on the left and next to the white house.
- The green homeowner drinks coffee.
- The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
- The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
- The man living in the center house drinks milk.
- The Norwegian lives in the first house.
- The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
- The man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
- The owner who smokes Bluemaster drinks beer.
- The German smokes Prince.
- The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
- The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water.
Explanation
To solve Einstein's riddle, it is useful to make a diagram
which can contain all possibilities, like the one drawn below.
Scroll down to start the interactive step-by-step solution of
the Einstein riddle.
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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 on the left and next to the white house.
5. The green homeowner 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 Bluemaster 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.
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StartClick to start the step by step solution to the Einstein riddle.Next stepThe Brit lives in the red house.(If we have used all information that a statement contains, we do not need it anymore and strike it for clarity.) Next stepThe Swede keeps dogs as pets.Next stepThe Dane drinks tea.Next stepThe green house is on the left of the white house. This implies that the green house cannot be number 5 and the white house not number 1.There is still information in this statement that we did not use. Therefore we will need it later on and do not strike it. Next stepThe green homeowner drinks coffee.Next stepThe person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.Next stepThe owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.Next stepThe man living in the center house drinks milk.Next stepThe Norwegian lives in the first house.Next stepThe man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.This tells us that the Blends smoker does not keep cats. Next stepThe man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.So the horse owner does not smoke Dunhill. Next stepThe owner who smokes Bluemaster drinks beer.Next stepThe German smokes Prince.Next stepThe Norwegian lives next to the blue house.Since we already know that the Norwegian lives in house 1, the blue house should be number 2. Obviously, the Norwegian itself does not live in the blue house. Next stepThe man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water.So the Blends smoker does not drink water. Next stepNow we will examine our diagram. We are going to try whether we can fill in more +'s and -'s. An easy way to do this is by trying to make (rectangular) boxes. Every + has to be an vertex of a box, while a - is an edge. For this it is convenient to use put +'s in the boxes claiming that Blends = Blends etc. as well.Next stepBy making a box, we see that the Pall Mall smoker does not live in a yellow house, is not a German, is not a Swede, and does not drink beer. We can fill in 4 -'sNext stepThe Swede does not live in the red house and also not on number 1. We can put in 2 -'s.Next stepThe Dunhill smoker lives in a yellow house, does not live on number 2, does not have a horse and also no birds. He drinks no coffee and no beer too and is neither a Brit nor a German. We can put in 6 -'s.Next stepThe German, who smokes Prince, does not live on number 1 and not in a red or yellow house. He does not drink tea or beer. He has no dogs. We can fill in 5 -'s.Next stepThe man who smokes Blue Master, drinks beer and is not a Dane, does not live in a green house and not on number 3. We can put in 3 -'s.Next stepThe man who lives in house 3 and drinks milk is not a Norwegian or a Dane and not living in the green house. 3 -'s this time.Next stepThe coffee drinker lives in the green house. He does not live on number 2, 3 or 5. He is not a Dane or a Brit. This gives 4 -'s.Next stepThe Dane drinks tea, does not live in a red house and not in house number 1. He also keeps no dogs. This gives 3 -'s.Next stepThe Norwegian lives in house 1, which is not blue, red or white. We can put in 2 -'s.Next stepThe Brit lives in a red house and not on number 2. Only 1 - this time.Next stepThe owner of the blue house number 2 drinks no milk. This gives 1 -.Next stepNow we can use statement 4. The green house cannot be number 1 since it should be left of and next to the white house. So the green house has to be number 4. Consequently, the white house is number 5, the yellow one number 1 and the red house number 3.Next stepThe Norwegian lives in the yellow house number 1 and hence smokes Dunhill.Next stepNow we can see that the Norwegian drinks no coffee, no beer, no milk and no tea. He therefore has to drink water.Next stepSince the Norwegian who lives in house 1, drinks water, statement 15 tells us that the one who lives in blue house number 2 smokes Blends.Next stepThe Brit lives in the red house number 3 and drinks milkNext stepThe Brit lives in house 3, so it smokes either Pall Mall or Prince. But since he also lives in the red house, he smokes either Pall Mall or Blue Master. Therefore the Brit smokes Pall Mall.Next stepSince the Brit smokes Pall Mall, he rears birds.Next stepIt now automatically follows that the Swede who keeps dogs smokes Blue Master and lives in the white house, which is number 5. Consequently he drinks beer.Next stepThe coffee drinker smokes Prince and is a german. Hence the German lives on number 4.Next stepThe Dane lives in the blue house number 2, drinks tea and smokes Blends.Next stepNow we will use statement 10. The owner of house 2 smokes Blends. His neighbour on number 3 rears birds. So the owner of house 1, which is the Norwegian, keeps cats.Next stepFinally we will use statement 11. The man who keeps the horse lives next to the one who smokes Dunhill, which lives on number 1. So the Dane who lives on number 2 has a horse.We have solved the Einstein Riddle!Consequently, the German who lives in the green house number 4, drinks coffee and smokes Prince, owns the Fish! We have solved the Einstein riddle. |
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