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Any math people here??? -- *updated*
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<blockquote data-quote="HereWeGoAgain" data-source="post: 44759" data-attributes="member: 3485"><p><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Marguerite wrote, </p><p>And here's a cute brain teaser for small difficult children - you're in your bedroom and it's dark. You need to get a pair of socks from your sock drawer, but you can't turn on the light. You don't want to grab ALL the socks, you want to get as few as possible. In the drawer are loose grey and brown socks, all jumbled together. You don't care whether you get a pair of grey, or a pair of brown, just so long as you have a pair. All the socks are identical, other than these two colours.</p><p>What is the minimum number of socks you need to get, to be certain you have a pair?</p><p></div></div></p><p></p><p>Marg,</p><p></p><p>How'd you know what my sock drawer looks like? LOL</p><p></p><p>A one time co-worker of mine solved the sock problem by only ever buying a particular brand and color of socks (black). That way any two socks at random were a match.</p><p></p><p>Now, as to the problem: my intuitive answer right off the bat was "half + 1". But actually the answer is 3. If you get two they might match, or they might not. If not, the third would have to match one or the other. (I'm ashamed to say how long it took me to reason that out. I must be a small difficult child&gt<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p><p></p><p>In the real world, though, we have to deal with the problem of un-mated socks. You'd think that the mates to any odd socks would show up eventually, but it ain't so. Where do those odd socks' mates go? Last time we moved, I had about half a dozen un-mated socks. We cleaned out every drawer and closet in the house. The washer and dryer were empty and disconnected, no odd socks within or left in the utility room. We never threw away odd socks, on the assumption that they had to have a mate <em>somewhere</em>. So, where did they go? I think some kind of supernatural force is at work. That, or they were lost in laundromats and relative's houses on vacation.</p><p></p><p>by the way, are grey and gray the same colo(u)r? I'm trying to learn Ozzie.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="HereWeGoAgain, post: 44759, member: 3485"] <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Marguerite wrote, And here's a cute brain teaser for small difficult children - you're in your bedroom and it's dark. You need to get a pair of socks from your sock drawer, but you can't turn on the light. You don't want to grab ALL the socks, you want to get as few as possible. In the drawer are loose grey and brown socks, all jumbled together. You don't care whether you get a pair of grey, or a pair of brown, just so long as you have a pair. All the socks are identical, other than these two colours. What is the minimum number of socks you need to get, to be certain you have a pair? </div></div> Marg, How'd you know what my sock drawer looks like? LOL A one time co-worker of mine solved the sock problem by only ever buying a particular brand and color of socks (black). That way any two socks at random were a match. Now, as to the problem: my intuitive answer right off the bat was "half + 1". But actually the answer is 3. If you get two they might match, or they might not. If not, the third would have to match one or the other. (I'm ashamed to say how long it took me to reason that out. I must be a small difficult child>) In the real world, though, we have to deal with the problem of un-mated socks. You'd think that the mates to any odd socks would show up eventually, but it ain't so. Where do those odd socks' mates go? Last time we moved, I had about half a dozen un-mated socks. We cleaned out every drawer and closet in the house. The washer and dryer were empty and disconnected, no odd socks within or left in the utility room. We never threw away odd socks, on the assumption that they had to have a mate [i]somewhere[/i]. So, where did they go? I think some kind of supernatural force is at work. That, or they were lost in laundromats and relative's houses on vacation. by the way, are grey and gray the same colo(u)r? I'm trying to learn Ozzie. [/QUOTE]
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Any math people here??? -- *updated*
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