SOLUTION: Suppose you go to a party with four Americans and four Canadians, none of whom you have met. How many people must you meet to be sure of meeting two Canadians?

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Question 781843: Suppose you go to a party with four Americans and four Canadians, none of whom you have met. How many people must you meet to be sure of meeting two Canadians?
Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Worst Case Scenario: You meet all 4 Americans before meeting a single Canadian. If that is the case, then you need to meet 2 more people to guarantee that you meet 2 Canadians. This works because there is no one left to meet.

So in this worst case scenario, you need to meet 4+2 = 6 people.

Meeting 6 people will guarantee that you meet two Canadians.

Note: you could meet 2 Canadians back to back as the first two people you meet. If this happens, then you don't have to meet the other 4 people. However, there's no guarantee that this will happen, so it's best to think of the worst case scenario and go from there.