Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant
A quick sock puzzle, from a 1999 Puzzle Panel show.
Don Cappuccino has bought a Robo-chum to help him around the house. Some friends are coming around for drinks and he wants to put some socks on as he is conventional. To prove he is not too conventional he decides to wear one blue sock and one other sock that doesn't match. Next door he has 19 red socks, 20 white socks and 41 blue socks - all mixed up in a drawer. He is too lazy to fetch these himself so he sends Robo-chum, who only works in monochrome but knows what a sock is and can count. So assume Robo-chum cannot tell the difference between a red sock, a white sock and a blue sock.
How many socks must Robo-chum fetch in order for Don Cappuccino to be sure of having his odd pair of socks - one of which is blue? |
Another maths question
I'll say that it has to be 42 (otherwise, they could all be blue, couldn't they?).