SOLUTION: If an average consumer owns at least one and at most fifteen credit cards, how many consumers must be polled to be certain that at least two own the same number of credit cards?

Algebra ->  Probability-and-statistics -> SOLUTION: If an average consumer owns at least one and at most fifteen credit cards, how many consumers must be polled to be certain that at least two own the same number of credit cards?      Log On


   

Question 932397: If an average consumer owns at least one and at most fifteen credit cards, how many consumers must be polled to be certain that at least two own the same number of credit cards?
Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
You need to poll 16 people and here is why:

If you polled 15 people, then the worst case scenario is that each person has a different number from the rest (person A has 1 card, person B has 2 cards, etc). That extra 16th person will have a number of cards from 1 to 15.

So again, you need to poll 16 people to guarantee that at least 2 of them will have the same number of cards.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you need more one-on-one help, email me at jim_thompson5910@hotmail.com. You can ask me a few more questions for free, but afterwards, I would charge you ($2 a problem to have steps shown or $1 a problem for answer only).

Alternatively, please consider visiting my website: http://www.freewebs.com/jimthompson5910/home.html and making a donation. Any amount is greatly appreciated as it helps me a lot. This donation is to support free tutoring. Thank you.

Jim
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------