Solve the Mystery: Where's the Fish?

  • Context: Undergrad 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Zantra
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a logic puzzle often attributed to Einstein, which involves deducing the ownership of a fish among five houses with different characteristics. Participants explore the assumptions and implications of the puzzle, questioning its validity and the necessity of assuming the existence of a fish.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants note the puzzle's popularity and its presence in various forums, suggesting it has been seen by many.
  • One participant claims that the German in the green house, who drinks coffee and smokes Prince, has the fish.
  • Another participant argues that the puzzle does not explicitly mention a fish, questioning the validity of assuming its existence.
  • Some participants discuss the implications of assuming a fish exists, suggesting it detracts from the puzzle's challenge and its connection to Einstein's ideas on assumptions.
  • A participant reflects on the notion that many people answer the puzzle directly without recognizing the underlying assumption that a fish exists.
  • There is a mention of how the puzzle's difficulty may vary based on the audience's background, with some suggesting that statistics about intelligence related to solving the puzzle may be exaggerated.
  • One participant proposes that "fish" could refer to something other than a pet, such as a drink or cigarette, highlighting the ambiguity in the puzzle's wording.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a mix of agreement and disagreement regarding the assumptions made in the puzzle. While some accept the premise of a fish existing, others challenge this assumption and question the puzzle's intent and difficulty.

Contextual Notes

Participants note that the puzzle relies on assumptions that may not be justified, particularly the existence of a fish, which is not explicitly stated in the clues provided.

Zantra
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This took me a while to figure out so good luck:) if you've seen this already let those who don't know it answer

Supposedly this is on the entrance exam to MIT, allegedly it was created by einstein.. who knows...

Let us assume there are 5 houses of different colors next to each other on the same road. In each house lives a man of a different nationality. Every man has his favorite drink, his favorite brand of cigarettes, and keeps pets of a particular kind.

The Englishman lives in a red house
the Swede keeps dogs
The Dane drinks tea
The green house is just to the left of the white house
The owner of the green house drinks coffee
The Pall Mall smoker keeps birds
The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunn Hills
The man in the center house drinks milk
The Norwegian lives in the first house
The Blend smoker has a neighbor who keeps cats
The man who smokes blue Masters drinks bier
The man who keeps horses lives next door to the Dunhill smoker
The German smokes Prince
The Norwegian lives next to the blue house
The Blend smoker has a neighbor who drinks water


So who has the fish?
 
Mathematics news on Phys.org
I just checked and this seems to be a popular one, so I'm sure a lot of you have seen this already. If you haven't, don't look it up
 
Seen it and figured it out. (drawing the houses and labeling them makes it easier) I will keep quiet. Fun puzzle.
 
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supposedly if you can figure it out, you're in the top 2 percent intelligence wise- not sure I buy into that:P
 
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The coffe drinking, Prince smoking, green house living German has the fish
 
Answer in white: Who's to say that any of them has a fish? Not a single clue mentions one.This puzzle has appeared before in this forum.
 
Zantra said:
supposedly if you can figure it out, you're in the top 2 percent intelligence wise- not sure I buy into that:P
Actually I have been tested and I am in the top 2 percent. :devil:
 
Ok well I guess this is an old puzzle that is a repost, so just throw your answer in white if you want to respond

evo you rock:biggrin:

Edit: let's just assume there's a fish, mmkayyy?
 
Zantra said:
let's just assume there's a fish, mmkayyy?
If you do, then you lose the Einstein angle. He made his fame by identifying an unjustifiable assumption, the absolute nature of time and space. You also lose the 2% angle. As a straightforward logic puzzle, it is no harder than the ones you find at the checkout counter of the grocery.
 
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  • #10
I must agree with Jimmy. I guess Einstein is laughing out how answers to his riddle (if this was really his?) has really turned out to his whims that is 98% answered wrongly and only 2% has answered that this riddle cannot be solved unless one has to assume. Many (98%) has pointed a direct answer-some varies too...but only a few (2%) realized that the riddle is an 'unjustifiable assumption' as you said.

What do you think what was on Einstein's mind by hanging the question: 'Who has the fish?' and not 'Assuming the somebody has a pet fish, then who has the fish?'.

Einstein LOVES to joke and riddle, and should this riddle be a joke instead? What do you think?
 
  • #11
...siguro joke lang yan! :smile: :biggrin:
 
  • #12
I remeber when this was posted a couple of months ago. Took me about 20 minutes.
 
  • #13
I guess I missed the point of the riddle, becaues It took me longer to work out the answer to who doesn't have a pet, than it did to realize that no where is mentioned a fish. that's the easy part.
 
  • #14
I've seen this before on another forum and figured it out, it's a fun puzzle. Took me about 10 minutes if I remember correctly (back in Elementary school I did hundreds of these, since it was the only thing my teachers had that was remotely challenging).
Zantra said:
supposedly if you can figure it out, you're in the top 2 percent intelligence wise- not sure I buy into that:P
The first place I saw this puzzle posted, more than half got it. Statistics like that are often made up.
 
  • #15
Depends on who the people are. For instance, the people at http://www.rapforums.com/ are probably generally and statistically not as intelligent as people from say, https://www.physicsforums.com/
 
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  • #16
one more thing i notice, we assume fish as pet, fish could be name of a drink or ciggarate. Then we assume that fish is a pet.
 

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