A box contains 12 marbles of three different colors – Green, Yellow and Blue – 4 of each.

If you were to close your eyes and pick them at random, how many marbles must you take out to be sure that there are at least two of one color among the marbles picked out ?

Timothy picks out 2.
GreenYellow
This does not guarantee him that there is a color with at least two of the same color.
Timothy picks out 3.
GreenYellowBlue
This does not guarantee him that there is a color with at least two of the same color.
Timothy picks out 4.
GreenYellowBlue??????
This does guarantee him that there is a color with at least two of the same color because we see there is no other color in the bag for the ?????? shown.

Posted by Tim Axoy on 2003-03-23 09:45:27