Melinda's lights went out. She has 3 pairs of red socks, 2 pairs of black socks, and 5 pairs of white socks in her drawer. What is the minimum number of pairs she must remove from the drawer to ensure that she has a pair of each color?

A. 3
B. 5
C. 7
D. 9
E. 10

The answer would be D because she cant be assured that she gets one of each pair if she grabs less.

Answered by brumfieldjosie | 2024-06-10

Melinda must remove at least 5 pairs of socks to ensure that she has a pair of each color.
Option B is the correct answer.
We have,
To ensure that Melinda has a pair of each color , she needs to remove at least one sock from each color until she has one sock remaining from each color.
Since she has 3 pairs of red socks, 2 pairs of black socks, and 5 pairs of white socks, the minimum number of pairs she must remove is the maximum of these numbers.
The maximum among 3, 2, and 5 is 5.
Therefore,
Melinda must remove at least 5 pairs of socks to ensure that she has a pair of each color.
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https://brainly.com/question/3118662
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Answered by swapnalimalwadeVT | 2024-06-17

Melinda must remove at least 5 pairs of socks to ensure she has a pair of each color. This accounts for the worst-case scenario where she might draw all the socks from the same color. Hence, option B is the correct answer.
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Answered by swapnalimalwadeVT | 2024-09-26