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Gloves by touch

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A box holds pairs of black gloves and pairs of brown gloves; each pair is left glove and right glove, and gloves of the same colour and hand are identical. You take gloves out blindly one at a time. What is the fewest number you must take to be sure of having a left glove and a right glove of the same colour?

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A whole number, a decimal, a fraction like 3/8 or a percent.

Hint

For each colour, how many gloves can you hold without a left and a right of that colour?

Solution
  1. Without a match, for each colour you hold only left gloves or only right gloves.
  2. So you can hold at most black and brown gloves, for example all the left ones, in total.
  3. In that case every remaining glove is the opposite hand of a colour you already hold, so the answer is .

Answer:

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