2005 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 16

Problem

A five-legged Martian has a drawer full of socks, each of which is red, white or blue, and there are at least five socks of each color. The Martian pulls out one sock at a time without looking. How many socks must the Martian remove from the drawer to be certain there will be 5 socks of the same color?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 6\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 9\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 12\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 13\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 15$

Solution

The Martian can pull out $12$ socks, $4$ of each color, without having $5$ of the same kind yet. However, the next one he pulls out must be the fifth of one of the colors so he must remove $\boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 13}$ socks.

2005 AMC 8 (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 15	Followed by Problem 17
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25
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2005 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 16

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