top button
Flag Notify
    Connect to us
      Site Registration

Site Registration

How many socks do you have to take out to be sure of having a pair that matches?

0 votes
892 views

It’s midnight and there is power failure. You have twenty two green socks and thirty five purple socks in your dresser drawer. How many socks do you have to take out to be sure of having a pair that matches.

posted Jul 19, 2017 by Sumana

Share this puzzle
Facebook Share Button Twitter Share Button LinkedIn Share Button

1 Answer

0 votes

If the first two you have taken are different then the next one will match one of those two, so three is the answer

answer Jul 13, 2018 by Hanifa Mammadov



Similar Puzzles
0 votes

A man has 53 socks in his drawer. They are 21 identical blue, 15 identical black and 17 identical red. The light went off and he is in complete darkness. How many socks must he take out to be 100% certain that he has a pair of black socks?

0 votes

Rohan's Sock Drawer boasts 18 Black Socks,10 Yellow, 8 Orange, 34 White and 2 Violet,not sorted by color.

The Light bulb has burned out.
Rohan cannot see what color the Socks are.

How many Socks does Rohan have to take to be sure he has at least two Socks of the same color ?

+1 vote

In the drawer beside your bed, you have three orange, two pink and five purple balls. There is no electricity and the room is completely dark.
How many balls you must take out to make sure you have one ball of each color at least.

0 votes

Jim keeps all his ties in a drawer.

He has 7 yellow, 10 blue, 9 red, 20 green and 3 purple colored ties.

He does not sort and keep them.

There is a power outage and Jim needs 2 ties of the same color.

Since he cannot see which color he is picking up from the drawer, how many ties does Jim have to take to be sure that he has at least 2 ties of the same color?

+1 vote

It was around 4 in the morning,
and I'm all dressed up,
ready for school,
when the electricity was cut off.
Too bad, I haven't put on my socks yet.

I have 2343 pairs of gray socks,
3212 pairs of pink socks and
6525 pairs of blue socks.
Everything is mixed in my drawer.(I'm a bit of irresponsible, sorry about that.)
As there was not light,
I was not able to identify the color of the socks.
How many of the socks did I need to take to match one pair ?

...