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Brain teaser question - Life is strange...

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Jan. 27th, 2004

10:46 am - Brain teaser question

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Hi!

I was looking at a brain teaser quiz yesterday and read the question and potential answers below. I feel dumb, but I couldn't figure out what the question was actually asking. So I thought I'd ask you. What does the question mean? What's the right answer, and how did you get there?

-(Thanks!) generalist

Current Mood: confusedconfused
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From:generalist
Date:January 28th, 2004 01:13 am (UTC)
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Nope, I'm not interviewing anywhere. Was your point that Microsoft uses brain-teasers to help cull its pool of interviewees down to the smart ones (this is well known), or that the puzzles they use are (or should rightly be) broken?

-(Amusedly) generalist

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From:luwenth
Date:January 27th, 2004 07:34 pm (UTC)
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Well, we must assume that she's not going to know by texture, or because she keeps her socks bundled, and that she's going to walk out of the room and not be willing to re-enter. So, in order to make sure that she has two socks of either brown or black, she has to pull 3 socks.

So, like, your book is wrong.
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From:selkiediver
Date:January 27th, 2004 07:44 pm (UTC)
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I've seen that question as part of an IQ test and the answer is three. That should guarantee a matching pair of socks in one or the other color.

I am confused.
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From:selkiediver
Date:January 27th, 2004 08:26 pm (UTC)

Re: Hehe...

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I see. You are saying that color does not determine a matching set. So you are saying that she can pick out two black socks (one nubbly and one smooth) that do not match.

Hmph. Back when I had to pull socks out of a drawer in the dark, I either a) did not care that they matched, or b) attached matching socks together. I'm thinking what's-her-name's sock drawer is just poorly organized for someone who must match socks in the pitch dark. (:

(Yes, i reposted this. Andy Roddick sort of diverted my attention there for a second and I made a boo boo)
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From:gratteciella
Date:January 27th, 2004 09:32 pm (UTC)
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I've seen the opposite of this question: how many socks does she need to pull out to make sure she gets at least one of each color? (Granted, that doesn't make sense as a life situation, but neither does your question, since why is she pulling unmatched socks out of her drawer in total darkness?)

To get at least one of each color, she needs to pull out 11 -- the first 10 could all be the same color, but the 11th would have to be a different color, since she'd have gotten all the ones of the first color already.
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From:fragiletender
Date:January 28th, 2004 12:34 am (UTC)
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If she's too lazy to bundle her socks then she deserves to wear unmatching ones.
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