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Sandy Wood
Brain Game: Sock It To Me
by Sandy Wood - September 22, 2008 - 6:30 AM

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Where’s my thumbdrive? Okay, that’s not a Brain Game. It’s just a question that I felt like posing, particularly since I can’t find mine. Luckily, there’s nothing on it that I haven’t backed up (and nothing that I wouldn’t show my wife). I just hope it’s not at the bottom of the washing machine.

But speaking of major clothes-related appliances…

Half asleep and not looking, Jerry reached in
the clothes dryer to grab a pair of socks.
Inside the dryer are his 12 black socks, 
his 7 blue socks, and his 2 green socks.

Now, Jerry doesn’t care WHAT color socks he wears
(that should be obvious, since he owns green socks);
he just wants a pair that matches.

What’s the minimum number of socks Jerry would
have to blindly pull out of the dryer to ensure that
he has at least one pair of matching socks?

HERE is the solution.

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Comments (5)

  1. Ah, but four is the MAX that he’d have to pull out. The question was “what’s the MINIMUM number of socks” he’d have to pull out. The answer is TWO!

    posted by SlackJack on 9-22-2008 at 7:27 am

  2. i agree with Slack. two is the min.

    posted by Grant on 9-22-2008 at 7:45 am

  3. 4 is correct. The requirement was the minimum # to ENSURE a matching pair.

    posted by bud on 9-22-2008 at 7:50 am

  4. The word ENSURE requires 4 to be the minimum number. 2 would provide a pair, but not ENSURE it.

    posted by Kevin on 9-22-2008 at 7:55 am

  5. Exactly, Kevin — he has to pull out four socks to ENSURE that he has at least one pair.

    There’s no way he could pull or two or three socks and be certain that he had a pair. Yes, odds are he’d have a pair of black socks, but there’s no guarantee until the number reaches four.

    posted by Sandy on 9-22-2008 at 8:29 am

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