Question

There are 22 gloves in a drawer: 5 pairs of red gloves, 4 pairs of yellow, and 2 pairs of green. You select the gloves in the dark and can check them only after a selection has been made.What is the smallest number of gloves you need to select to have at least one matching pair in the best case? In the worst case?

Answer 1

Answer:

Best-case = 2 gloves

Worst-case = 12 gloves

Explanation:

• For the best-case: Because there is a chance that you take two gloves of the same color in the first two round the answer is two.
• For the worst-case: The worst case would be if, for each color-group of gloves you take the right or left glove, for example, you take 5 left-hand red gloves then 4 left-hand yellow gloves, then 2 left-hand green gloves, because you have already taken all of the left gloves the next one is going to be a right glove that is going to pair with one of the already selected gloves, therefore, the answer is 12 -> 5+4+2+1 = 12