Sunday, September 05, 2010

Einstein's Quiz

Albert Einstein created a quiz that has puzzled many people for a few decades. I saw it in the Reader's Digest more than 30 years ago. I could not solve it at that time. I have since discovered the technique of solving the quiz. It requires a systematic approach. By learning this approach, you will also learn how to solve other problems in a systematic way. Read this article:

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4 comments:

km coaching said...

managed to solve it about an hour , maybe plus half an hour. kinda of refuse to give up, and nearly give up in the end.

the method is not fixed. but generally is using the table method where put factors in table form of 5 by 5 squares.

The house color is the fastest to fill up all in correct position so u put in top row.

The red house in the middle is fastest to fill in column row.

Another method when filling up the squares is to place the house colors in the correct sequence in the actual position. because the tips given has positional clues in them also, not only for house colors but other things like pet, drinks and cigarette, that is why your table must reflect the correct position of house so as to allow you finally reach the answer.

For me, I took 2 a4 size paper to solve it, it requires several redraws to make tables cleaner each time. Elimination method part of the way i solve it.

Another way, in the later stages where many squares are still uncertain is putting the items in squares where it is possible after deducing that it is impossible in some squares. Since they are not confirmed, I use a circle to encirlce them to differentiate from those confirmed already. SInce there is positional clues, lines are drawn and some squares are filled also due to positional clues.

The cats, blend smoker and water drinker forms a chain positional clue. beer , blue masters form another chain. tea , dane guy forms. another. German smoking prince form another. swede who owes a dog is another chain. These, plus the fish, are my last uncertain chains.

I nearly give up at this point but in the end, I become hardworking and use final elimination method of assuming fish in this square, cos there are 3 possible places for fish, and then trace out the other squares.

Luckily , i found out that only one fish position will allow all the squares to fill in correctly with no clashes.

September 05, 2010 12:20 PM
km coaching said...

I google it and found out the real answer... i agree with what the person says.... it is not the german who owns the fish..

because no one says anything about the fifth pet , or who owes the fifth pet. Perhaps that is why einstein says that only 2 percent of the people says it.

I think it is eintsein nature to ask a trick question. And i think he is trying to teach people about how humans tend to make assumptions in their head with asking for clarifications.

The fifth pet could be an ant, elephant or hamster.
Who owes the fish, maybe none of them.

September 05, 2010 12:32 PM
eJim said...

all along, for such quiz i have been using excel to solve them. i find putting all the info on an excel sheet makes it easier to visualize them to solve the quiz. with this method, the answer can be obtained within 15 mins. few clues are easy to fit in the table with the rest requiring some thinking and trial & error to get the final answer. love it!

September 06, 2010 9:06 AM
Tan Kin Lian said...

More of this type of quiz can be found in TKL Intelligence Quiz available at iShop. There is a discoutn of 40% when you buy a bundle of 5 books.

September 06, 2010 9:48 AM

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