Einstein's Riddle That Only 2% of the Population Can Solve

Albert Einstein‘s mind undoubtedly falls into the category of gifted; the genius showed us a new perspective of science, and thanks to his masterful way of theorizing reality, we are today able to understand more about the dynamics of the Universe. But besides physics, Einstein also issued other hypotheses on different areas, such as his belief that birds were able to perceive the Earth’s magnetic field, and on a more relaxed topic, it is believed that he also took the time to create a riddle that only 2% of the population can solve. It is no surprise that such intelligence prompted them to steal his brain.

Riddles are the best way to stimulate the potential of the mind; they generate a kind of adrenaline that challenges us to try to solve them. But this case is even more special, since the riddle that we will explain below, probably came out of Albert Einstein’s mind. While there is no hard evidence to prove that the German physicist devised the puzzle, it has been haunting books and now the web.

Prestigious institutions such as Stanford University have cited the problem that supposedly only 2% of those who dare to try to solve it will actually succeed. Whatever the story behind the problem, it bears the name ‘Einstein’s Riddle’ and is truly a challenge to logical ability. Are you ready?

Einstein’s Riddle

The hypothetical situation to imagine is as follows: On a street, there are five houses of different colors each. In each house lives a person of a different nationality. Each owner drinks a different type of beverage, smokes a unique brand of cigarettes, and owns a different pet from their neighbors.

Based on the fact that each variable is unrepeatable in each house and on a series of clues broken down below, you must use your deductive ability to answer the question: who is the owner of the fish?

The British man lives in the red house.
The Swede has a pet dog.
The Dane drinks tea.
The Norwegian lives in the first house.
The German smokes Prince.
The greenhouse is immediate to the left of the white house.
The owner of the greenhouse drinks coffee.
The owner who smokes Pall Mall raises birds.
The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
The man who lives in the center house drinks milk.
The neighbor who smokes Blends lives next door to the one who has a cat.
The man who owns a horse lives next door to the man who smokes Dunhill.
The homeowner who smokes Bluemaster drinks beer.
The neighbor who smokes Blends lives next door to the one who drinks water.
The Norwegian lives next door to the blue house.

What Is the Solution to Einstein’s Riddle?

This is a constraint satisfaction problem, a type of mathematical problem characterized by having a set of objects such that their state must satisfy a number of constraints. The solution is not so simple and rather than a puzzle, it is a puzzle where you have to limit yourself to the constraints for each variable. Take your time to solve it, but if you want to know the answer just read on.

Taking into account the five variables present: house color, nationality, pet, favorite drink, and cigarette brand, we have that: