englishman italian spaniard norwegian the cat lounge [email protected]
TRANSCRIPT
Problem Statement
Four people of different nationalities live on the same side of a street in four houses, each of a different colour. Each person has a different favourite drink. We also know that :
1. The Englishman lives in red house.2. The Italian drinks tea.3. Norwegian lives in the first house on the left.4. The one living next to blue house drinks beer.5. The Spaniard drinks fruit juice.6. Tea is drunk in the blue house.7. The white house is to the right of red house.8. Milk is drunk in the second house from the right.
Questions
Who drinks milk ?What does the Norwegian drink ?What colour house does the Spaniard
live in ?Who drinks beer ?Who lives in the right-most house ?
Needs no logic and no reasoning
How does this problem look to you ?Try it out before proceeding forward.
Do you feel this problem can be done within a minute ?
There is one very minor “catch” in the problem, and if you get that – it is solvable in less than a minute.
Are you ready for it ?
Where should we start ?
The first thing to get right is the representation of the problem.
The representation is easy to visualize : A table like the following :
House #I House # II House # III House # IV
Nationality
Colour
Drink
What next ?
If you start right with the first clue, there is not much you can do. You need to start with the clues which are absolutely sure-shot
Let us start with something that is absolutely a given
House #I House # II House # III House # IV
Nationality
Colour
Drink
The Simplest clue
Norwegian lives in the first house on the left.
What can you conclude from this clue ?
How will you fill the table with this clue ?
House #I House # II House # III House # IV
Nationality
Colour
Drink
The Simplest clue - Answer
Norwegian lives in the first house on the left.
House #I House # II House # III House # IV
Nationality Norwegian
Colour
Drink
The next simplest clue
Milk is drunk in the second house from the right.
How will you fill the table with this clue ?
House #I House # II House # III House # IV
Nationality Norwegian
Colour
Drink
The next simplest clue - Answer
Milk is drunk in the second house from the right.
House #I House # II House # III House # IV
Nationality Norwegian
Colour
Drink Milk
The next obvious ones
The Italian drinks tea.
The Spaniard drinks fruit juice.
What do these clues mean ?
How will you fill this table with these ?
House #I House # II House # III
House # IV
Nationality Norwegian
Colour
Drink Milk
The next obvious ones - Answer
The Italian drinks tea.The Spaniard drinks fruit juice.
Both these clues require a Nationality-Drink entry in the table.In Column I, nationality is already taken – not possibleIn Column III, drink is already taken – not possible
House #I House # II House # III
House # IV
Nationality Norwegian Italian/Spaniard Spaniard/Italian
Colour
Drink Tea/Juice Milk Juice/Tea
Now it is all a cakewalk
The Englishman lives in red house.
Where can the Englishman go ?
House #I House # II House # III
House # IV
Nationality Norwegian Italian/Spaniard Spaniard/Italian
Colour
Drink Tea/Juice Milk Juice/Tea
Now it is all a cakewalk - Answer
The Englishman lives in red house.
There is only one column with an available entry for Nationality.
Englishman lives there, and he lives in a red house.
House #I House # II House # III
House # IV
Nationality Norwegian Italian/Spaniard Englishman Spaniard/Italian
Colour Red
Drink Tea/Juice Milk Juice/Tea
Getting simpler still
The one living next to blue house drinks beer.
Which is the only possibility for drinking beer ?
House #I House # II House # III
House # IV
Nationality Norwegian Italian/Spaniard Englishman Spaniard/Italian
Colour Blue Red
Drink Tea/Juice Milk Juice/Tea
Getting simpler still - Answer
The one living next to blue house drinks beer.
There is only one column with an available entry for Drink.
That is the house where Beer is taken.
House #I House # II House # III
House # IV
Nationality Norwegian Italian/Spaniard Englishman Spaniard/Italian
Colour Blue Red
Drink Beer Tea/Juice Milk Juice/Tea
Nothing left now
Tea is drunk in the blue house.
This should be obvious
House #I House # II House # III
House # IV
Nationality Norwegian Italian/Spaniard Englishman Spaniard/Italian
Colour Blue Red
Drink Beer Tea/Juice Milk Juice/Tea
Nothing left now - Answer
Tea is drunk in the blue house.
This ensures that House # II has the Italian/Tea combo.
This also ensures that House # IV has the Spaniard/juice combo.
House #I House # II House # III
House # IV
Nationality Norwegian Italian Englishman Spaniard
Colour Blue Red
Drink Beer Tea Milk Juice
The Last One
The white house is to the right of red house.
Nothing left to say now
House #I House # II House # III House # IV
Nationality Norwegian Italian Englishman Spaniard
Colour Blue Red
Drink Beer Tea Milk Juice
The Last One - Answer
The white house is to the right of red house.
House #I House # II House # III House # IV
Nationality Norwegian Italian Englishman Spaniard
Colour Blue Red White
Drink Beer Tea Milk Juice
It is indeed a cakewalk …
You never need to struggle with any Logical Reasoning problem
All you need to do is :Find a good representationPick up clues in the right order
Pick up a clue which can be used right now If you read a clue and it doesn’t make sense, it is
not ready to be used … Move aheadKeep it simple and keep moving …
It’s a matter of seconds …
Did you use any logic anywhere ?Did you use any reasoning anywhere ?Did you have to use any trial-and-error
anywhere ?How long would it take you to approach
the problem this way ?If you can master this trick, every Logical
Reasoning will be a whisker
Learnings
What did you learn from this problem ?How can you make your problem-solving
quick and instant ?Send your comments to