SOLUTION: A jar contains 5 white, 7 blue, and 8 red marbles. If you remove 1 marble at a time, randomly, what is the minimum number that you must remove to be certain that you have at least

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Question 281482: A jar contains 5 white, 7 blue, and 8 red marbles. If you remove 1 marble at a time, randomly, what is the minimum number that you must remove to be certain that you have at least 3 marbles of each color?
Found 2 solutions by brucewill, richwmiller:
Answer by brucewill(101) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The "worst case" would be pulling 8 red, then 7 blue, then 1 white.
Therefore, you would need to pull 16 before being assured of 1 of each color.

Answer by richwmiller(17219) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
If I remove 17 the last three might be all white giving me only two white.
but if I remove 18 I have to have all but 2 so that if the two left are both white I will have at least 3 white