It seems my logical skills are in need of some serious refinement, for I find this difficult. What am I missing? Any help is greatly appreciated. All I can come up with is 3, for the reasoning that the only two outcomes would be either two blue/one red or vise-versa. Then, no blue could possibly be pulled from the red bag and vise-versa. The red bag is either labeled “blue” or “mixed” and the blue is either labeled “red” or “mixed”, while the mixed bag is labeled “red” or “blue”…but then I freeze up like the Tin man when he isn’t properly oiled. I can no longer hack my way through the cognitive woods in order to do anything with these facts, which leaves me lamenting like the scarecrow. Might someone be so kind as to oil me?
LOGIC PROBLEM: You have three bags of marbles on a high shelf. The bags are in your reach but you cannot see the contents of any bag. You cannot take the bags down from the shelf or climb up to look into the bags to see what is inside. You don’t need to look into the bags because the following facts are stipulated (assumed to be true). Using these stipulated facts and these facts alone you can DEDUCE the correct answer
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One bag contains all blue marbles, one bag contains all red marbles and one bag contains a mix of blue and red marbles.
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Each bag is labeled INCORRECTLY!
Given these facts alone, you must determine the actual content of each bag by taking samples from the bags on the shelf. The only way you are permitted to take a sample is to reach into ONE bag and remove ONE marble per sample. What is the least number of samples you need to take in order to determine the factually true content of each bag? why?