Re: Drawer full of socks
- From: Simon Tatham <anakin@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 30 Mar 2006 11:19:53 +0100 (BST)
Alec McKenzie <find@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
It follows that the lost sock was black. There is no need for
any algebra.
Nonsense. If he had bought 218 pairs of white socks and 203 pairs of
black socks for a total of 842 socks, he would have had to lose a
_white_ sock to bring the numbers to 435 white socks and 406 black,
which would have the required property of matched and mismatched
sock pairs being equiprobable. Losing a black sock for 436/405 would
not have this property.
The above solution satisfies every condition of the given problem
except for the `between 900 and 1000' range condition, and has the
opposite answer. Therefore, any correct solution method has to take
that condition into account somehow, because it is clear that the
answer depends critically upon it.
--
Simon Tatham "The voices in my head are trying to ignore me.
<anakin@xxxxxxxxx> But if I keep talking, I can drive them insane."
.
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- Drawer full of socks
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