THE CLOTHING CONUNDRUM

I am getting ready to go out, but the lights have just blow. In my sock draw I have ten red socks, six green socks, four blue socks, seven yellow socks (I lost one) and twelve purple socks. Apart from having appallingly bad taste in clothes, how many socks must I take out to be mathematically CERTAIN of getting a pair?

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Scroll down for the answer

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Two. A pair is two, if you didn't know. To be certain of getting a MATCHING pair, I would have had to taken out six socks, allowing for the worst possible scenario.

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