Logic Arena
♟️ Strategy ★★★☆☆ +16 points #15

The Dark Room Drawer

Open — answers are being collected The solution goes up on 07 September. Send in your answer before then and it counts for full points — you will not be told whether it is right until the reveal.

A drawer holds 30 socks, jumbled together:

  • 10 black socks,
  • 12 white socks,
  • 8 grey socks.

The power is out and the room is completely dark. You cannot tell the colours apart by touch, and once a sock is out of the drawer you may not put it back.

🧦10 black🧦12 white🧦8 grey

All the same to the hand. Only the count is on your side.

🌑You need two black socks — and you must be certain, not lucky. Assume the worst possible order of draws.

Answer to type: the smallest number of socks you must take out to be sure of holding two black ones.

💡 I want a nudge

Do not ask what is likely. Ask what the unluckiest possible hand looks like — and then take one more sock than that.

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