Last Question:
There are 22 gloves in a drawer: Five pairs of red gloves, four pairs of yellow gloves and two pairs of green gloves. If the lights are out and you must select the gloves in the dark, how many must you choose to ensure that you have at least one matching pair?
Answer:
If the drawer contained socks, then you would need to select only four to get a matching pair. But gloves have an attribute that socks do not have, the attribute of handedness. There is one glove for the right hand and one glove for the left hand.
It is not enough to have two gloves that are the same color. They must be of complementary handedness. To ensure that you have one pair of gloves, you must select one more than the number of gloves of one handedness, or twelve.
Today’s Question:
What is the difference between the red letters and the black letters?
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