Englishman Italian Spaniard Norwegian The CAT Lounge

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 #IHouse # IIHouse # IIIHouse # 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 #IHouse # IIHouse # IIIHouse # 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 #IHouse # IIHouse # IIIHouse # IV Nationality Colour Drink

The Simplest clue - Answer Norwegian lives in the first house on the left. House #IHouse # IIHouse # IIIHouse # IV NationalityNorwegian 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 #IHouse # IIHouse # IIIHouse # IV NationalityNorwegian Colour Drink

The next simplest clue - Answer Milk is drunk in the second house from the right. House #IHouse # IIHouse # IIIHouse # IV NationalityNorwegian Colour DrinkMilk

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 #IHouse # IIHouse # III House # IV NationalityNorwegian Colour DrinkMilk

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 possible In Column III, drink is already taken – not possible House #IHouse # IIHouse # III House # IV NationalityNorwegian Italian/SpaniardSpaniard/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 #IHouse # IIHouse # III House # IV Nationality Norwegian Italian/SpaniardSpaniard/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 #IHouse # IIHouse # 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 #IHouse # IIHouse # III House # IV Nationality Norwegian Italian/Spaniard Englishman Spaniard/Italian Colour BlueRed 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 #IHouse # IIHouse # III House # IV Nationality Norwegian Italian/Spaniard Englishman Spaniard/Italian Colour BlueRed Drink Beer Tea/Juice Milk Juice/Tea

Nothing left now Tea is drunk in the blue house. This should be obvious House #IHouse # IIHouse # III House # IV NationalityNorwegian Italian/Spaniard Englishman Spaniard/Italian ColourBlueRed DrinkBeer 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 #IHouse # IIHouse # III House # IV NationalityNorwegianItalianEnglishmanSpaniard ColourBlueRed DrinkBeerTeaMilkJuice

The Last One The white house is to the right of red house. Nothing left to say now House #IHouse # IIHouse # IIIHouse # IV NationalityNorwegianItalianEnglishmanSpaniard ColourBlueRed DrinkBeerTeaMilkJuice

The Last One - Answer The white house is to the right of red house. House #IHouse # IIHouse # IIIHouse # IV NationalityNorwegianItalianEnglishmanSpaniard ColourBlueRedWhite DrinkBeerTeaMilkJuice

It is indeed a cakewalk … You never need to struggle with any Logical Reasoning problem All you need to do is : Find a good representation Pick 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 ahead Keep 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