Braingle: 'A Problem With Pearls' Brain Teaser

A Problem With Pearls

Probability puzzles require you to weigh all the possibilities and pick the most likely outcome.

Puzzle ID:	#48356
Fun:	(2.77)
Difficulty:	(1.39)
Category:	Probability
Submitted By:	No_Eyed_Fsh
Corrected By:	b2b9800

"I'm a very rich man, so I've decided to give you some of my fortune. Do you see this bag? I have 5001 pearls inside it. 2501 of them are white, and 2500 of them are black. No, I am not racist. I'll let you take out any number of pearls from the bag without looking. If you take out the same number of black and white pearls, I will reward you with a number of gold bars equivalent to the number of pearls you took."

How many pearls should you take out to give yourself a good number of gold bars while still retaining a good chance of actually getting them?

Hint

If you took out 2 pearls, you would have about a 50% chance of getting 2 gold bars. However, you can take even more pearls and still retain the 50% chance.
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Comments

braingle100 Jan 03, 2011	'no I a not racist.' LOL
No_Eyed_Fsh Jan 03, 2011	This teaser was used in my recent WTB game, The Riddle Shop. No, it is not a riddle.
BrainBoggler Jan 13, 2011	easy................ if that was me, i would have been sooooooooooooooooooooooooo rich!!!!!
Stack1607 Jan 15, 2011	great teaser!