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how many socks?

how many socks?

Posers and Puzzles

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In my drawer i have ten black socks and ten white socks , i am going out to a party so i need a fresh pair of socks ,as i open the drawer the bulb blows and i can,t see a thing , because i am in a rush to get to the party i stick my hand in and scoop up some socks . what is the minimum amount of socks i can get out to have a matching pair?

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eleven?

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if you don't care which color, you only need three

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Originally posted by Aetherael
if you don't care which color, you only need three
I'm Polish.

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Originally posted by phil3000
In my drawer i have ten black socks and ten white socks , i am going out to a party so i need a fresh pair of socks ,as i open the drawer the bulb blows and i can,t see a thing , because i am in a rush to get to the party i stick my hand in and scoop up some socks . what is the minimum amount of socks i can get out to have a matching pair?
Three?

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Originally posted by Aetherael
if you don't care which color, you only need three
got to be a matching pair!!!

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Originally posted by FabianFnas
Three?
your correct the answer is THREE, well done

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Originally posted by phil3000
[b]got to be a matching pair ,but the answer is three!!!!

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I was wrong earlier it's twelve.😳

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Originally posted by JerryH
I was wrong earlier it's twelve.😳
That's the minimum to be guaranteed a pair of each.

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A sisterproblem to the socks problem is the following:

I found a sale where I could buy sneakers really cheap. So I bought a dozen. Same size and same colour: white. I spearated each of them to individual choes an put them in a box.
The next day I wanted to have a pair, but the light was out and it was dark as a coalmine. Anyway i thought that
If I take up x number of shoes (all undistinguashable by hand) how many would I have to take in order to be sure that I got one left and one right one?

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Originally posted by FabianFnas
A sisterproblem to the socks problem is the following:

I found a sale where I could buy sneakers really cheap. So I bought a dozen. Same size and same colour: white. I spearated each of them to individual choes an put them in a box.
The next day I wanted to have a pair, but the light was out and it was dark as a coalmine. Anyway i thought that
If I ...[text shortened]... y hand) how many would I have to take in order to be sure that I got one left and one right one?
I suspect you only bought sneakers for right feet due to the shop experiencing an unprecedented spate of bad dancers buying shoes. Therefore, no pair of sneakers for you 🙁

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Originally posted by Meadows
I suspect you only bought sneakers for right feet due to the shop experiencing an unprecedented spate of bad dancers buying shoes. Therefore, no pair of sneakers for you 🙁
I controlled very carefully that in each pair there were one left and one right shoe. That was not the reason I got them so cheap. However, each pair were all white, and identical to eachother.

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Originally posted by FabianFnas
I controlled very carefully that in each pair there were one left and one right shoe. That was not the reason I got them so cheap. However, each pair were all white, and identical to eachother.
Ah well that was clever of you.

Ok (unless I'm missing a cheeky loophole or something foolish on my part), if you take n shoes, n/2 being left shoes and n/2 being right shoes, you need n/2 + 1 to guarantee that you'll have at least one of each.

In your case you bought 12 so I would presume that you need 7 boxes.

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Originally posted by Meadows
Ah well that was clever of you.

Ok (unless I'm missing a cheeky loophole or something foolish on my part), if you take n shoes, n/2 being left shoes and n/2 being right shoes, you need n/2 + 1 to guarantee that you'll have at least one of each.

In your case you bought 12 so I would presume that you need 7 boxes.
One box only, and 1 dozen identical pairs of shoes, all of them in the same box.
It's dark (as in a coal mine) and I pick up x number of shoes. What is x in order to be sure that I pick up a pair that I can use for my daily promenade?

No loophole and one box only. How many shoes do I need to pick up?

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