Einstein's Riddle: Who Has the Fish?

[asti]

At least he acknowledges and confronts his assumptions. I suppose then you could say something along the lines of, "we can determine logically that we don't know what kind of pet the German has, and based on the assumption that the missing fifth pet is a fish, we can determine that the German has fish".

The thing is, very few people recognize the assumption being made. I think it's a really important thing to note, because everyday we draw conclusions about situations, events and other people based on the information we are provided with. And everyday we make assumptions based on that information at hand. Many of us might then swear that something is absolute, without realizing that at some point along the line, an assumption was made which wasn't attached to any given fact, and as such, our conclusions about the situation, event or person could well be wrong!

That's what I've taken away from the riddle anyway, because I thought it was the German as well; it never occurred to me that the fifth pet might in fact NOT be a fish!

Anyway, we're all assuming Einstein did indeed write the riddle - I haven't found any concrete evidence to prove that he did so, but admittedly I haven't looked very hard for it - does anyone else know where and when it appeared?

The general acceptance is that he wrote it in the early part of the 20th century, but I cannot find out how and where it appeared. I'd be really interested to see what the original script is - which I "assume" will be in German? :-)

 

[vikasj007]

But like everyone else, I did the chart thing :-) I found the correct answer here:

http://www.amazeingart.com/fun/einstein-quiz.html

well this is nothing but a spoof. you get loads of such things on the net, such people are out there only with the aim to belittle any and everything.

the assumption to be made is more than obvious. i mean, einstein was a genius, and he won't go around asking stupid questions.

 

[infidel]

Took me about 15 min. I did use a drawing and wrote the clues down, etc.

If the nonsense about not knowing pet 5 is a fish, that's just silly. These kind of logic problems are well known and by every example I've ever seen the 'assumption' the 5th pet is a fish is obvious and trivial. The 'trick' is stupid, if it's supposedly the 'real' answer.

Though I do doubt Einstein actually wrote this. But who knows. Maybe he liked logic puzzles.

 

[hypatia]

note... the word, keeping, was the popular way of saying "owning" when Einstine was in his heyday.
My Grandfather always said that he kept dogs, never that he owned dogs.

 

[whozum]

Einstein wrote this riddle last century and said that 98% of the world’s population would not be able to solve it.

Are you a part of that 98%?

* There are 5 houses that are each a different colour.

* There is a person of a different nationality in each house.

* The 5 owners drink a certain drink. They each smoke a certain brand of cigarettes and also have a certain pet. No owner has the same pet, smokes the same brand of cigarettes nor drinks the same drink.

The question is. “Who has the fish?”

* The 5 owners drink a certain drink. They each smoke a certain brand of cigarettes and also have a certain pet. No owner has the same pet, smokes the same brand of cigarettes nor drinks the same drink.

The question is. “Who has the fish?”

I think that's pretty obvious to draw out that each one has a pet .