I'm getting dressed in the dark, and I have 6 pairs of white socks and 6 pairs of black socks, but they're all mixed up in my sock drawer. How many socks will I need to blindly pull out to ensure that I get five pairs of white socks?

Question

Mathematics

Luna Richards

25 May, 23:49

I'm getting dressed in the dark, and I have 6 pairs of white socks and 6 pairs of black socks, but they're all mixed up in my sock drawer. How many socks will I need to blindly pull out to ensure that I get five pairs of white socks?

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Answers (1)

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Kendall Shelton · Answer 1

To ensure to get five pairs of white socks, I need to pull out at least 11 pairs of socks from my sock drawer.

Step-by-step explanation:

There are 6 pairs of white socks and 6 pairs of black socks mixed up in my sock drawer. If I want to ensure to get five pairs of white socks, I need to pull out at least (6 + 5) = 11 pairs of socks since at most there can be 6 pairs of black socks in my chosen set of socks.