help please! :?

ambz_21 · Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 5:35 pm Post subject: help please! :?

please can anyone answer this?

If your sock drawer has 4 brown socks, 6 black socks, 2 tan socks, and 8 white socks, how many socks would you have to pull out to be sure you had a matching pair in the dark? Embarassed

some-g · Site Admin Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 190

5, how many socks of each there are doesn't matter. It's possible to pick 4 without a match, but the fifth is guaranteed to be a match

Blaze · Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 12:50 pm Post subject:

Not really cause theres 10 left socks and 10 right socks so to be gaurenteed that you have a left and a right sock you need to get 11 socks.

Or are you matching colour...?

juanitobb · New Member Joined: 21 May 2006 Posts: 3

socks don't have pairs so indeed you will only need at the most, 5 socks. :idea: :shock:

Blaze · Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 9:06 am Post subject:

Yh but then wouldnt that mean you only need 2...?

GameMaster · Site Regular Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 55

It's the peigon(sp.) hole theorum...

The worst case senario is that each sock is a different color, so:
I pull a brown
I pull a black
I pull a tan
I pull a white
Now, it doesn't mater what I pull next. So, at most 5 pulls.

sweaterman · New Member Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 13

A left and Right sock???? BTW the answer is 2. Even in the dark you can find 2 white socks.

Riddleman · Site Admin Joined: 18 May 2005 Posts: 598

im not good at riddles like that

tccoven · New Member Joined: 19 Oct 2006 Posts: 2

All the socks would match in the dark, so only 2 ar necessary.

BobaFunk · New Member Joined: 06 Aug 2009 Posts: 28

the answer is 5 socks