Who Owns The Fish? Solution

There are five houses in a row and each house is a different color. A different man lives in each house and is from a different country. Each person drinks a certain drink, plays a certain sport, and keeps a certain pet. No two people drink the same drink, play the same sport, or raise the same pet. Use the following 15 facts to determine who owns the fish. The Brit lives in a red house The Swede keeps dogs The Dane drinks tea The green house is on the left of the white house The green house owner drinks coffee The person who plays polo rears birds The owner of the yellow house plays hockey The man living in the house right in the center drinks milk The Norwegian lives in the first house The man who plays baseball lives next to the man who keeps cats The man who keeps horses lives next to the one who plays hockey The man who plays billiards drinks beer The German plays soccer The Norwegian lives next to the blue house The man who plays baseball has a neighbor who drinks water.

Solution:

It is easiest to start with a table of the various house colors, nationalities, drinks, sports and pets. This helps us to determine what information we have used and what still needs to be put into the table. Colors: Countries: Drink: Sport: Pet:           Red Brit Tea Polo Dogs Green Swede Coffee Hockey Bird White Dane Milk Baseball Cats Yellow Norwegian Beer Billiards Horses Blue German Water Soccer Fish Next, we need to create a table. We shall use the following categories: House Color         Nationality         Drink         Sport         Pets         And so, now we shall use the above 15 facts to fill in the table. It is best not to go through the facts in order. Rather, by trying to use the options that limit the number of possibilities. We begin with fact #9 that the Norwegian lives in the first house.           Norwegian                                       Next we use fact #14 that the Norwegian lives next to the blue house.   Blue       Norwegian                                       Now, we have to interpret fact #4 to mean that the green house is directly to the left of the white house. This gives us two possible options.   Blue Green White   Norwegian                                         Blue   Green White Norwegian                                       Next, we use fact #1 that the Brit lives in the Red house. (There is only one option in each of the two above.)   Blue Green White Red Norwegian       Brit                                 Blue Red Green White Norwegian   Brit                                   Now, we can use both fact #5 (Green house drinks coffee) and fact #7 (Yellow house plays hockey). Note: The only remaining house has to be the yellow house. Yellow Blue Green White Red Norwegian       Brit     Coffee     Hockey                   Yellow Blue Red Green White Norwegian   Brit           Coffee   Hockey                   Next, we use fact #8 that the owner of the center house drinks milk. This eliminates our first possibility, so we see that the Brit drinks milk. Yellow Blue Red Green White Norwegian   Brit         Milk Coffee   Hockey                   Using fact #11 (the man with Horses lives next to the man who plays Hockey), we have the following. Yellow Blue Red Green White Norwegian   Brit         Milk Coffee   Hockey           Horses       Using fact #3 (The Dane drinks tea), we have two possibilities. Yellow Blue Red Green White Norwegian Dane Brit       Tea Milk Coffee   Hockey           Horses       Yellow Blue Red Green White Norwegian   Brit   Dane     Milk Coffee Tea Hockey           Horses       Now we use fact #2 (The Swede has dogs) to create three possibilities. Yellow Blue Red Green White Norwegian Dane Brit Swede     Tea Milk Coffee   Hockey           Horses   Dogs   Yellow Blue Red Green White Norwegian Dane Brit   Swede   Tea Milk Coffee   Hockey           Horses     Dogs Yellow Blue Red Green White Norwegian   Brit Swede Dane     Milk Coffee Tea Hockey           Horses   Dogs   Now, it is easy to apply fact #13 (The German plays soccer). There is only one place that this fits in each of the above three possibilities. Yellow Blue Red Green White Norwegian Dane Brit Swede German   Tea Milk Coffee   Hockey       Soccer   Horses   Dogs   Yellow Blue Red Green White Norwegian Dane Brit German Swede   Tea Milk Coffee   Hockey     Soccer     Horses     Dogs Yellow Blue Red Green White Norwegian German Brit Swede Dane     Milk Coffee Tea Hockey Soccer         Horses   Dogs   Next, we use fact #12 (The man who plays Billiards also drinks Beer) to eliminate all but the second option, leaving us with just one option. Yellow Blue Red Green White Norwegian Dane Brit German Swede   Tea Milk Coffee Beer Hockey     Soccer Billiards   Horses     Dogs Now, using fact #6 (The man who plays Polo also has birds), we see that it only fits with the Brit. Yellow Blue Red Green White Norwegian Dane Brit German Swede   Tea Milk Coffee Beer Hockey   Polo Soccer Billiards   Horses Birds   Dogs There is only one position for the man who plays Baseball (The Dane). Yellow Blue Red Green White Norwegian Dane Brit German Swede   Tea Milk Coffee Beer Hockey Baseball Polo Soccer Billiards   Horses Birds   Dogs Using fact #15 (The man who drinks Water is a neighbor of the man who plays Baseball) and fact #10 (The man with Cats lives next to the man who plays Baseball) to fill in the rest of the table. Note: We have to assume that in fact #15, neighbor refers to next door neighbor, not just one of the five nearby houses. Yellow Blue Red Green White Norwegian Dane Brit German Swede Water Tea Milk Coffee Beer Hockey Baseball Polo Soccer Billiards Cats Horses Birds   Dogs And so, we see that there is only one spot left not filled in. The question asks who owns the fish. Now, since we must assume that one of the five owns the fish, in which case the German would own the fish. Thus, our completed table looks like the following: Yellow Blue Red Green White Norwegian Dane Brit German Swede Water Tea Milk Coffee Beer Hockey Baseball Polo Soccer Billiards Cats Horses Birds Fish Dogs

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