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Chelsea has four loose socks in her sock drawer - 2 black socks and 2 white socks. If Chelsea is getting out socks in a dark room and she does not care whether she has a black pair or a white pair, how many socks must she get from the drawer to be sure that she has two that match?

User Moriesta
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2 Answers

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Chelsea must get three socks in order to have a pair. 
User Mike Green
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1 vote
after she retrieves either a black or a white sock she has a one in 3 chance of retrieving the same coloured sock.
So with 2 socks retrieved we cant be sure she has 2 that match.

Picking a third sock:-

If the first 2 match then she will have a pair.

If the first 2 were different then whatever one she picks there must be a match

So the answer is 3 socks from the drawer.


User Yaniv Peretz
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8.8k points
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