who owns the fish

bonniebiel1 · 2007-01-03 02:26:41

Does anyone have the solution? I just registered on the website and am stumped already. I gave the puzzle to my 8th graders and we are working on it. Thanks

krassi_holmz · 2007-01-03 04:02:50

I think the answer was the german, but I'm not sure.
I don't think Einstein was correct in this case (that only 0.02% of the peorle can do it)

mathsyperson · 2007-01-03 05:17:55

His estimation was that only 2% of people could do it, not 0.02%.

There's a bit of controversy surrounding this puzzle though. Some people say that Einstein's actual solution was that no one owns the fish. None of the clues mention any fish, and you're not told that the fish is owned by someone, so it's possible that that was the answer and the remaining 98% of people would either assume that one of the 5 people mentioned owns the fish, or just not be able to do the logic in the first place.

If we do assume that it is one of those 5 people who owns the fish though, then it is indeed the German.

MathsIsFun · 2007-01-03 10:38:39

mathsyperson wrote:

None of the clues mention any fish, and you're not told that the fish is owned by someone

I have heard that too, but I think it is common puzzle practice to assume that a fact can be in the question. Otherwise many puzzles become "trivial".

schoolrocks · 2007-01-11 12:51:35

The German owns the fish.
The yellow house: Norwegian, water, hokey, cats
The blue house: Dane, Tea, Baseball, horses
The red house: Brit, milk, polo, birds
The Green house: German, CF, Soccer, FISH
The White house: Swede, Beer, Billiards, dogs

This was a tough problem I drew five boxes and started recording what could go in each house and what couldn't, I than realized the order of the house had to be yellow, blue, red, gree, and white as the green house was to the left of the white house and drank coffee and the yellow house was first with the blue house being next to the yellow house. If milk was the middle houses beverage the and the white and green house remained a pair than I had the order of homes. Once I had the order I started to fill in what I knew and what could be and began to eliminate, kind of like suduko.

I hope these hints help to solve with your students.

Laurel Eddy · 2007-01-26 15:56:30

I didn't find it that hard. It took about half an hour. But then, I've done a lot of logic puzzles.

The one thing that bugged me was you have to assume the 'first' house means the far left.

It works pretty well if you lay it out as a matrix logic puzzle. I did my best to put it in here, but lining up the top row didn't work. But I just typed "matrix logic" into google and the fifth entry shows how to do them.

polo hoc bb bill soc dog brd cat hrs fsh tea cf mlk br wtr rd grn wht ylw blu brit swd nor dne grmn
left house x o x x x x x o x x x x x x o x x x o x x x o x x
2nd from l x x o x x x x x o x o x x x x x x x x o x x x o x
center o x x x x x o x x x x x o x x o x x x x o x x x x
2nd from r x x x x o x x x x o x o x x x x o x x x x x x x o
right x x x o x o x x x x x x x o x x x o x x x o x x x
brit o x x x x x o x x x x x o x x o x x x x
swede x x x o x o x x x x x x x o x x x o x x
norwegian x o x x x x x o x x x x x x o x x x o x
dane x x o x x x x x o x o x x x x x x x x o
german x x x x o x x x x o x o x x x x o x x x
red o x x x x x o x x x x x o x x
green x x x x o x x x x o x o x x x
white x x x o x o x x x x x x x o x
yellow x o x x x x x o x x x x x x o
blue x x o x x x x x o x o x x x x
tea x x o x x x x x o x
coffee x x x x o x x x x o
milk o x x x x x o x x x
beer x x x o x o x x x x
water x o x x x x x o x x
dogs x x x o x
birds o x x x x
cats x o x x x
horse x x o x x
fish x x x x o

MathsIsFun · 2007-01-26 20:35:32

Hi Laurel Eddy,

Well done! Your matrix might look better using the "code" tag - it preserves spacing.

Use [code]... [/code]

star_rider1 · 2007-05-01 20:56:04

i think if they make up a puzzle it should at least have an answer!

Math Is Fun Forum

#1 2007-01-03 02:26:41

who owns the fish

#2 2007-01-03 04:02:50

Re: who owns the fish

#3 2007-01-03 05:17:55

Re: who owns the fish

#4 2007-01-03 10:38:39

Re: who owns the fish

#5 2007-01-11 12:51:35

Re: who owns the fish

#6 2007-01-26 15:56:30

Re: who owns the fish

#7 2007-01-26 20:35:32

Re: who owns the fish

#8 2007-05-01 20:56:04

Re: who owns the fish

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