Question

A jar contains 5 white, 7 blue, and 8 red marbles. If you remove 1 marble at a time, randomly, what is the minimum number that you must remove to be certain that you have at least 3 marbles of each color?

Answer 1

See a solution process below:

Explanation:

• We could potential remove `8` marbles and there is a possibility they could all be red.

• Next we could remove `7` more marbles and there is a possibility (no matter how small) they could all be blue.

• We would need to remove `3` more marble to be absolutely certain there was at least three marbles of each color.

So, to be absolutely certain you would have at least `3` marbles of each color you would have to remove:

`8 + 7 + 3 = 18` marbles.