OpenEuphoria

Re: Need a Challenge?

• Posted by Dan Moyer <DANIELMOYER at prodigy.net> Aug 17, 2001
• 489 views

Irv,

Of course, technically, you can't validly assert that *any* of the people
mentioned owns a Zebra, or drinks Water, because the puzzle doesn't mention
either in the information, nor does it say:
"One of the pets is a Zebra, and one of the beverages is Water:
The question is who has the zebra and who drinks water?"

Without an explicit statement that the "missing" pet is a Zebra, and that
the "missing" drink is water, that pet could just as well be an Octopus, and
that drink KoolAid, or they could be anything at all. Since they *could* be
*anything*, it can't be valid to say that they *are* a zebra and water.
Just *saying* "who has the Zebra" doesn't seem sufficient, because it hasn't
been *defined* as being one of the pets.  No?

(Setting that "technicality aside, I still haven't solved it.)

Dan Moyer



----- Original Message -----
From: "Irv Mullins" <irvm at ellijay.com>
To: "EUforum" <EUforum at topica.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2001 8:47 AM
Subject: Need a Challenge?


> >
> I found this puzzle in an example program for a language I downloaded.
> Can you write a program (100 lines or less, plz) to solve it?
>
> A small street has five differently colored houses on it. Five men
> of different nationalities live in these five houses. Each man has
> a different profession, each man likes a different drink, and each
> has a different pet animal. We have the following information:
>
> The Englishman lives in the red house.
> The Spaniard has a dog.
> The Japanese is a painter.
> The Italian drinks tea.
> The Norwegian lives in the first house on the left.
> The owner of the green house drinks coffee.
> The green house is on the right of the white house.
> The sculptor breeds snails.
> The diplomat lives in the yellow house.
> They drink milk in the middle house.
> The Norwegian lives next door to the blue house.
> The violinist drinks fruit juice.
> The fox is in the house next to the doctor's.
> The horse is in the house next to the diplomat's.
>
> The question is who has the zebra and who drinks water?
>
> Regards,
> Irv
>
> >
> >
>
>