Persons 1-5 occupy houses (in that order) on a ring road. The houses are painted amber, blue, chartreuse, denim and ecru (not necessarily in that order).

Fact 1. Person #1 presently lives in a house that is neither ecru nor denim.

Fact 2. One and only one of Person #1 and Person #3 presently live next to the blue house.

Fact 3. Some time ago, two people switched houses. As a result of the switch, one and only one of Person #2 and Person #4 got a new neighbour.

Fact 4. Either both of amber’s neighbours were changed in the switch, or else both of amber's neighbours remained unchanged.

Who lives in the chartreuse house?

Note: Aus dem Haeuschen is German slang. Haeuschen, (cottage) is used as a metaphor for for "brain". Thus, Aus dem Haeuschen means, more or less, out of one's mind, in the sense of being enthusiastic about something.

Clarification: Each person (and each house) has two neighbours, namely the person living to the left and the right. If the left neighbour and the right neighbour change houses, the occupant in the middle does not get any new neighbours.

(In reply to re(2): Solution? by Fernando)

Now I'll try to solve this problem in a more elegant way:

 

Please consider: A=Amber, B=Blue, C=Chartreuse, D=Denim and E=Ecru

 

Fact 1

#1 can only live in houses A, B or C

Fact 2

Neither #1, #2 or #3 live in B

Fact 3

Only possible switches that lead to only one of #2 and #4 to get a new neighbor are: 1-3 or 3-5

 

Fact 4

If the switch was 1-3 then: #1 gets one new neighbor and 3 gets 1 new neighbor.

If the switch was 1-5 then: #1 gets 1 new neighbor and 3 gets 2 new neighbors.

 

In neither cases 1 gets 2 new neighbors nor keeps the same neighbors, so he cannot live in A.

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Therefore, by elimination, #1 can only live in the elegant Chartreuse estate.

 

Ich hoffe dass es richtig ist. Was hast du zu sagen, Herr FrankM?

Edited on March 5, 2008, 7:01 pm

Posted by Fernando on 2008-03-05 18:59:50