Can you solve "Einstein’s Riddle"? - Dan Van der Vieren

Summary

The script presents a complex logic puzzle attributed to a young Albert Einstein. It involves a stolen rare fish and five houses with unique characteristics. Each house has a different nationality, beverage, cigar, wall color, and animal, including the fish. The detective must deduce the thief's house using clues and process of elimination. The puzzle, while not actually by Einstein, illustrates logical reasoning akin to solving equations with multiple variables.

Takeaways

• 🔍 The riddle involves a stolen rare fish and five houses with unique characteristics.
• 🏠 Each house has a different nationality, beverage, cigar, wall color, and animal.
• 👮‍♂️ The police can't search all houses at once to avoid alerting the thief.
• 🧩 The puzzle is structured like Sudoku, suggesting an organized grid approach.
• 🇳🇴 The Norwegian lives at the end of the street, leading to the house with blue walls.
• ☕ The green-walled house's owner drinks coffee and is not in the center or second house.
• 🏡 The Brit lives in the red-walled house, deduced from the missing nationality and color.
• 🚬 The Dunhill smoker lives in the yellow-walled first house.
• 🐎 The owner of the horse lives next door to the Norwegian, placing them in the second house.
• 💧 The Norwegian drinks water, not tea or root beer, which are associated with other houses.
• 🚬 The Prince-smoking German must live in the fourth house, as it's the only one missing a nationality and cigar brand.
• 🐱 The cat owner lives next to the Dane who smokes Blends, placing the cat owner in the first house.
• 🐟 The German in the green-walled house is the culprit, as deduced through elimination.

Q & A

What is the central problem presented in the riddle?

The central problem is to determine which house contains the world's rarest fish that has been stolen from the city aquarium.

How many houses are there on the street?

There are five houses on the street.

What are the three unique characteristics of each house mentioned in the riddle?

Each house has a different nationality of the owner, a different beverage, and a different type of cigar.

What is the significance of the Norwegian's position in the riddle?

The Norwegian lives at the end of the street, which allows the deduction that the house next to him must be the one with blue walls.

What beverage does the owner of the green-walled house drink?

The owner of the green-walled house drinks coffee.

What is the nationality of the person who lives in the house with red walls?

The nationality of the person who lives in the house with red walls is British.

Which brand of cigars does the person living in the first house smoke?

The person living in the first house smokes Dunhill cigars.

What is the drink of the Norwegian in the first house?

The Norwegian in the first house drinks water.

Which nationality is associated with the Prince brand of cigars?

The German is associated with the Prince brand of cigars.

What is the nationality of the person who smokes Pall Mall cigarettes?

The person who smokes Pall Mall cigarettes is British.

Which house contains the fish that was stolen from the aquarium?

The fish is in the green-walled house.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 The Einstein Riddle Challenge

The paragraph introduces a complex riddle attributed to a young Albert Einstein involving the theft of the world's rarest fish from an aquarium. The riddle is set up as a detective scenario where the solver must deduce which of five houses the fish is hidden in based on a set of clues. The clues involve different nationalities, beverages, types of cigars, wall colors, and animals in each house. The paragraph encourages the solver to organize the information in a grid and use logical deduction to solve the puzzle, similar to Sudoku. The solution process involves using the clues to eliminate possibilities and deduce the correct house, which is found to be the green-walled house owned by a German who smokes Prince cigars.

Keywords

💡Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics. His work is known for its influence on the philosophy of science. In the context of the video, Einstein is credited with creating a complex riddle, which serves as the central theme of the narrative. The script uses Einstein's name to pique interest due to his reputation for genius and his association with challenging intellectual problems.

💡Brain teaser

A brain teaser is a form of puzzle or problem designed to test ingenuity and problem-solving skills. It often requires thinking outside the box or applying lateral thinking. In the video, the brain teaser is the riddle involving the theft of a rare fish, which the viewer is challenged to solve. The brain teaser is central to the video's narrative and serves as a metaphor for the kind of logical thinking Einstein was known for.

💡Detective

A detective is an investigator, either a member of a law enforcement agency or a private individual. Detectives are skilled at solving mysteries and crimes through observation, investigation, and logical reasoning. In the script, the viewer is cast in the role of the city's best detective, tasked with solving the riddle of the stolen fish. This keyword ties into the video's theme of problem-solving and logic.

💡Clues

Clues are pieces of evidence or information that help to solve a mystery or puzzle. In the video, the clues provided are the details about the houses, their owners, and the stolen fish. The clues are essential to the narrative as they are the raw data that the detective (viewer) must analyze and interpret to solve the riddle.

💡Sudoku

Sudoku is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9x9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3x3 subgrids contain all of the digits from 1 to 9. The video script suggests organizing the clues in a grid like Sudoku, which is a method to systematically arrange and analyze the information to find the solution to the riddle.

💡Elimination

Elimination is a method of solving a problem by systematically ruling out options until the correct one is found. In the context of the video, elimination is a key strategy used to solve the riddle. The detective uses the process of elimination to deduce which house the fish is in by ruling out houses based on the clues provided.

💡Nationality

Nationality refers to a person's legal relationship with a country, typically associated with citizenship and allegiance. In the video, each house owner is of a different nationality, which is one of the distinguishing characteristics used to differentiate between the houses. Nationality is a clue that helps to narrow down the possibilities in solving the riddle.

💡Cigar

A cigar is a roll of tobacco leaves that is smoked. In the script, each house owner smokes a different type of cigar, which is one of the many details used to identify the house where the fish is hidden. The type of cigar smoked is a key piece of information in the process of elimination.

💡Wall color

Wall color refers to the hue or shade of paint applied to the interior walls of a house. In the video, each house has walls painted a different color, which is a distinguishing feature used to help identify the correct house. The wall color is a crucial clue in the logical deduction process.

💡Animal

An animal is a multicellular, eukaryotic organism of the kingdom Animalia. In the video, each house contains a different animal, and one of these animals is the stolen fish. The presence of various animals in the houses is a key part of the puzzle and helps to identify the house where the fish is located.

💡Process of elimination

The process of elimination is a method used to solve problems by systematically eliminating possibilities until only one remains. In the video, this method is used extensively to solve the riddle. By eliminating houses based on the clues provided, the detective can deduce where the fish is hidden.

Highlights

Albert Einstein's riddle involves a list of clues to solve a brain teaser.

The riddle is about finding the world's rarest fish stolen from an aquarium.

Police have narrowed down the search to five identical houses.

Each house owner has a different nationality, drinks a different beverage, and smokes a different type of cigar.

Each house has different colored walls, contains a different animal, and one has the stolen fish.

The puzzle is solved by organizing information in a grid format.

The Norwegian lives at the end of the street, next to the house with blue walls.

The green-walled house's owner drinks coffee and it's not the center or second house.

The green-walled house is to the left of the white-walled one, ruling out first and fifth houses.

The Brit's house is red-walled and is the center house.

The Dunhill smoker lives in the first house with yellow walls.

The horse owner lives in the second house, as per clue eleven.

The Norwegian drinks water, not tea or root beer, leaving only water as the option.

The Norwegian's neighbor smokes Blends and must be in the second house.

The fifth column house is the only one without a cigar and a drink, must be from clue twelve.

The tea-drinking Dane must live in the second house, leaving only water for the Norwegian.

The German in the fourth house smokes Prince, leaving the Brit to smoke Pall Mall.

The Swede lives in the fifth house with a dog, while the Brit has a bird.

The cat owner lives next to the Blend-smoking Dane, placing him in the first house.

The German in the green-walled house is the culprit, solving the riddle.

Solving puzzles like this often involves false starts and using the process of elimination.

The logic used in this puzzle is similar to solving equations with multiple variables.

It's unlikely that young Einstein wrote this puzzle, as some brands mentioned are too recent.

Transcripts

Before he turned physics upside down,

a young Albert Einstein supposedly showed off his genius

by devising a complex riddle involving this list of clues.

Can you resist tackling a brain teaser

written by one of the smartest people in history?

Let's give it a shot.

The world's rarest fish has been stolen from the city aquarium.

The police have followed the scent to a street with five identical looking houses.

But they can't search all the houses at once,

and if they pick the wrong one, the thief will know they're on his trail.

It's up to you, the city's best detective, to solve the case.

When you arrive on the scene, the police tell you what they know.

One:

each house's owner is of a different nationality,

drinks a different beverage,

and smokes a different type of cigar.

Two:

each house's interior walls are painted a different color.

Three:

each house contains a different animal, one of which is the fish.

After a few hours of expert sleuthing, you gather some clues.

It may look like a lot of information,

but there's a clear logical path to the solution.

Solving the puzzle will be a lot like Sudoku,

so you may find it helpful to organize your information in a grid, like this.

Pause the video on the following screen to examine your clues and solve the riddle.

Answer in: 3

2

1

To start, you fill in the information from clues eight and nine.

Immediately, you also realize that since the Norwegian is at the end of the street,

there's only one house next to him,

which must be the one with the blue walls in clue fourteen.

Clue five says the green-walled house's owner drinks coffee.

It can't be the center house since you already know its owner drinks milk,

but it also can't be the second house, which you know has blue walls.

And since clue four says

the green-walled house must be directly to the left of the white-walled one,

it can't be the first or fifth house either.

The only place left for the green-walled house

with the coffee drinker is the fourth spot,

meaning the white-walled house is the fifth.

Clue one gives you a nationality and a color.

Since the only column missing both these values is the center one,

this must be the Brit's red-walled home.

Now that the only unassigned wall color is yellow,

this must be applied to the first house,

where clue seven says the Dunhill smoker lives.

And clue eleven tells you that the owner of the horse is next door,

which can only be the second house.

The next step is to figure out what the Norwegian in the first house drinks.

It can't be tea, clue three tells you that's the Dane.

As per clue twelve, it can't be root beer since that person smokes Bluemaster,

and since you already assigned milk and coffee,

it must be water.

From clue fifteen,

you know that the Norwegian's neighbor, who can only be in the second house,

smokes Blends.

Now that the only spot in the grid without a cigar and a drink

is in the fifth column,

that must be the home of the person in clue twelve.

And since this leaves only the second house without a drink,

the tea-drinking Dane must live there.

The fourth house is now the only one missing a nationality and a cigar brand,

so the Prince-smoking German from clue thirteen must live there.

Through elimination, you can conclude that the Brit smokes Pall Mall

and the Swede lives in the fifth house,

while clue six and clue two tell you

that these two have a bird and a dog, respectively.

Clue ten tells you that the cat owner lives next to the Blend-smoking Dane,

putting him in the first house.

Now with only one spot left on the grid,

you know that the German in the green-walled house must be the culprit.

You and the police burst into the house,

catching the thief fish-handed.

While that explanation was straightforward,

solving puzzles like this often involves false starts and dead ends.

Part of the trick is to use the process of elimination

and lots of trial and error to hone in on the right pieces,

and the more logic puzzles you solve,

the better your intuition will be

for when and where there's enough information to make your deductions.

And did young Einstein really write this puzzle?

Probably not.

There's no evidence he did,

and some of the brands mentioned are too recent.

But the logic here is not so different

from what you'd use to solve equations with multiple variables,

even those describing the nature of the universe.