Here is one way to solve this problem.
Once again, the very first thing
you need to do is to make sure you fully understand
the problem. In this problem you are told that
3 pairs of socks are placed into a dryer. Each
pair is a different color and the pairs of socks
are not paired together. You want to find out the
smallest number of socks you would have to pick
from the dryer that guarantees you have one matched
pair. The key word here is guarantees. Let's see
why that is so important.
Now that you understand the problem.
Let's solve it.
Pretend to take out one sock from
the dryer. Let's say you pull color A. Now you
need to pull another sock. You could be lucky enough
to pull another color A sock and you would have
the pair of socks you need. However, you are not
guaranteed its color to be the same as it could
easily be the color of the other two socks.
In fact, as you pull out socks
from the dryer, the first three socks could very
easily be a different color. However, when you
pick a sock out the fourth time, you will have
guaranteed yourself a match of two socks being
the same color.
So you could get a matched pair
of socks on the second or third picks, but you
are not guaranteed to have a matched pair.
Therefore, your final answer to
this problem is letter B, 4 drawings of
socks will guarantee you a matched pair of socks.
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