A drawer contains 19 black socks and 19 white socks If the l

A drawer contains 19 black socks and 19 white socks. If the light is off and Man reaches into the drawer to get his socks, what is the minimum number of socks he must pull out in order to be sure that he has a matching pair? He must pull out a minimum of socks.

Solution

19 pair of black shocks =38 black socks

19 pair of white shocks =38 white socks

If he pulls out one black and one white, he doesn’t have a pair.

Bur the next sock will make a pair either for white sock and black sock.

So after he has the three socks, he will have matching pair.

Therefore, the minimum number of socks to be pulled out is 3.