Brain Teasers
How Many Gloves
Probability
Probability puzzles require you to weigh all the possibilities and pick the most likely outcome.Probability
Cathy has six pairs of black gloves and six pairs of brown gloves in her drawer. In complete darkness, how many gloves must she take from the drawer in order to be sure to get a pair that match?
Answer
13. She could possibly take out 6 black left hand gloves and then 6 brown left hand gloves, the next one would have to be either the black right hand or brown right hand match.Hide Answer Show Answer
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Comments
Dec 11, 2001
too bad the answer is wrong. 20 is the answer. let's say you pick a brown left, that's 1. you could then pick all 12 blacks - that's 13. then the remaining 5 brown lefts - that's 18. finally, you're forced to pick a 1 brown right (the match), for that's all that's left. That's a total of 19! unless i read the problem wrong ...
Feb 10, 2002
The answer to this teaser is actually 8 (assuming one might distinguish the difference between right and left hand). Choosing a single left-hand glove, you must then choose 7 of the right hand gloves to ensure that one will be of matching color.
O actually lementor (dementor whatever) the correct answer is actually two, she could pick a left hand black glove and then a right hand black glove. Rich Rich (where do people get these names?) you did indeed read wrong. The man's answer is correct you muppets
The answer is three. If you are in that much of a hurry, turn the glove inside out and go.
uh... i have three things.... just turn a light on or take the dresser out in the lite.. or just don't wear gloves
hey richrich if you took out all of the black you would get a pair wouldnt you?
how would you find the drawer they're in?
I agree with lamentor, one should be able to feel the differenc between a left and right glove, so his answer would be correct.
where did you get your name, cathlmccabe?
Tricky! Tricky! But I would say 3 too becuase I certainly would be able to feel the diffrence between a left or righthanded glove
all she wants is to find a pair that matches in COLOR, not left or right... the answer is 3 i pick a black, then a brown, and the thrid is either black or brown and you found your pair... another thing, if u have 6 pairs of each, that makes 12 individual gloves... how can u have 13 out of 12
The answer is not 13, but 8 like lamentor said. You need a pair (a lefty and a righty) and they need to be of the same color. There are 6 pairs, so if you keep choosing righties, you only need 7 to guarantee you have at least each color righties, and pick one lefty (that will have to match at least one)
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