<p>A drawer contains red socks, black socks, and white socks. What is the least number of socks that must be taken out of the drawer to be sure of having 4 pairs of matching socks.</p>
<p>A) 8
B) 9
C) 10
D) 11
E) 12</p>
<p>How many socks are there total? If its an INFINITE drawer than none of those answers would be correct lol.</p>
<p>how many total socks and how many of each kind of sock (which should add up to be total anyway)? i don't think you can do this question without knowing that (i think.... if not, then i probably shouldn't have gotten 36 on my math sections lol)</p>
<p>lol I agree
The qs doesn't say....thats wat I was confused about 2.<br>
The answer is 10 tho.</p>
<p>Qs like this wuldn't be found on the ACT Math rit?</p>
<p>Where did you find this question? If it wasn't in an official exam, I wouldn't worry about it. Although probability questions like that are going to be on the test.</p>
<p>I found this qs on the 4test.com
I was doing the practice probs and this 1 was one of the math probs.</p>
<p>I don't do practice tests except from official sources (like CB for the SAT).</p>
<p>One way to do these questions is to think about the "unluckiest outcome" at every step:</p>
<p>So, assume that the first 3 socks you pull are of different colours.
Then, the 4th sock has to match something. so you're at 4 socks to guarantee 1 pair.</p>
<p>Now you have a pair, and two singles. If you pull a sock to match a single, you get a pair. but, if you pull a sock that matches the pair you already have, then you have a pair and 3 singles. That's the "worst" thing that can happen so assume it does.</p>
<p>Current tally - 5 socks, only 1 pair guaranteed.</p>
<p>But now, you have singles in all the colours, so the 6th sock has to guarantee a second pair of <em>something.</em> -- 6 socks = 2 guaranteed pairs.</p>
<p>If you continue going on this way (assume the next sock you get is the same colour as a pair, not a single), you should get 10 socks to guarantee 4 pairs.</p>
<p>AH, so thats how u do it.
TY...hope this kinda qs wouldn't be on the real test :D</p>
<p>i've never seen this type of question in practice ACTs or on the 5 real ACTs i've taken.. they've always given you some type of total number of socks or something like that.. most-likely, you won't see this question on the test.</p>
<p>oh ok...thank god</p>
<p>By the way, never do 4test.com... so inaccurate</p>
<p>^ agreed .</p>
<p>^^ i second that</p>
<p>omg....thank you for those last 3 replies ^^
I found so many mistakes ---> I thought I was just getting dumber!
:D</p>
<p>though this problem would not be on the ACT, it is not so rare on the SAT.</p>
<p>For those who dont like to read long posts, here is how i got 10.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>12 socks total</p></li>
<li><p>Being the unlucky b@stard you are, you get 8 tries and you get all the red, all the blue, and none of the green. (or whatever colors they are.</p></li>
<li><p>There are 4 green socks left in the drawer. The question says "pairs" therefore you take 2 more turns and draw out 2 green socks. Therefore you have a total of 10 tries.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>m8, how did u get 12 total socks in the 1st place?</p>
<p>Yeah, no where did it say 12 socks..</p>
<p>Here is how i got 12.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>12 is greatest answer choice</p></li>
<li><p>This question tries to decieve you becuase it says "pairs"</p></li>
<li><p>There are 3 differnt types of colors. If there are an equal amount of each sock, then there would have to be 4 of each sock to have complete pairs. </p></li>
<li><p>Only the novice would pick 12 beccuase he thinks that by picking all 12 of them does he have a 100 percent chance of getting a pair of all 3</p></li>
</ol>