Archive: 4 posts

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CuriousSack's mother knitted him Twenty five pairs of socks: Five striped, Five plaid, Five spotted, Five argyle and Five with owls playing the fiddle. Being a teenager, CuriousSack failed to pair his socks and threw them randomly in his drawer. How many socks must CuriousSack pull out before he can be absolutely certain he is holding at least one matching pair? The answer will be revealed in two weeks.

2016-09-04 15:27:00 Author: Sir monacle Posts: 4155

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I'll do an Alan-Davies and answer 6.

2016-09-05 01:28:00 Author: jimydog000 Posts: 813

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Six is correct. If there are Five different sock patterns then CuriousSack only needs to pull out six socks to ensure he's got at least one match. Even if he got a new pattern every time he pulled out a sock on the first five tries, the sixth would have to match at least one of the socks he's already pulled out! Well, that was quick. Good job, nevertheless.

2016-09-05 07:40:00 Author: Sir monacle Posts: 4155

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Hahaha, ok, considering that I've been a typical teenager (even though its already a very long time ago! ) and that I've not been blind as a mole, but probably felt no necessity to focus on such less important things like sorting my socks (which probably drove my mother crazy! ) then I would also say that I would have been sure to have a matching pair after 6 pulled socks! ...but! You've made one mistake! If my mother has knitted the socks, then you could have pulled all 50 socks and nevertheless couldn't have been sure to have one matching pair! Many greeetings, Jürgen^^

2016-09-05 07:51:00 Author: CuriousSack Posts: 3981

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