SOLUTION: Cathy has six pairs of black socks and six pairs of white socks in her drawer.In complete darkness, and without looking, how many socks must she take from the drawer in order to be

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Question 285999: Cathy has six pairs of black socks and six pairs of white socks in her drawer.In complete darkness, and without looking, how many socks must she take from the drawer in order to be sure to get a pair tha match?
Found 2 solutions by solver91311, richwmiller:
Answer by solver91311(24713) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!


Three. If she pulls a pair in the first two draws, fine. But if not, she will have one white sock and one black sock -- the third draw has to match one of them.

John

Answer by richwmiller(17219) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Well this is an interesting problem because Cathy has to turn on the lights eventually to find out if she actually has a pair of socks or not.
6 pair of white=12 white
6 pair black=12 black
if she pulls one white then one black she doesn't have a pair.
if she pulls one black and then one white she does not have a pair.
but the next sock will make a pair either a black pair or white pair.
But what good will it do her since she most likely has only two feet and will have three socks.
So after she has the three socks she has to turn on the lights to see which two actually do match.