Today Puzzle #619
Puzzle No. 619鈥� Tuesday 26 November
To give the impression that their minds are occupied with high and abstract concepts, academic scientists wear odd socks on purpose. If I want to wear a unique combination (no repeats, no matched pairs) every day for a week, how many different colours of sock do I need?
Today's #PuzzleForToday has been set by Dr Andrew Brown, Lecturer in School of Maths, Queen’s University Belfast.
Click here for the answer
With four colours (e.g red, green, blue and yellow) there are only six unique combinations: RG, RB, RY, BG, BY, GY. Thus to do 7 days I would need 5 colours. As a bonus, if I have 5 colours I have enough for 10 days: with 5 colours there are 5X5=25 total combinations. 5 of them are matched pairs, leaving 20. And swapping the order doesn’t matter: BG is the same as GB, so only half (20/2=10) give unique combinations.
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