Smallest N for Ensuring 3 Colors in 100 Marble Draw

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    2015
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SUMMARY

The problem discusses a box containing 111 marbles of four colors: green, yellow, purple, and blue. It is established that drawing 100 marbles guarantees at least one marble of each color. The objective is to determine the smallest integer N such that drawing N marbles ensures at least three different colors are obtained. The solution involves analyzing the distribution of colors and applying combinatorial principles to derive the minimum value of N.

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There are 111 marbles in a box, each being green, yellow, purple and blue. It's known that if 100 marbles are drawn, we can ensure getting marbles of all four colors.

Find the smallest integer $N$ such that if $N$ marbles are drawn, we can ensure getting marbles of at least three different colors._______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Remember to read the http://www.mathhelpboards.com/showthread.php?772-Problem-of-the-Week-%28POTW%29-Procedure-and-Guidelines to find out how to http://www.mathhelpboards.com/forms.php?do=form&fid=2!
 
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No one answered last week's problem. :(

You can find the proposed solution below:

First off, note that $N>87$. This is because if there are $12$ blue, $12$ purple, $12$ yellow and $75$ green marbles in the box, we don't necessarily get marbles of at least three different colors when at most $87$ marbles are drawn (consider we many only get 75 green and 10 yellow marbles), and this combination satisfies the given condition if $100$ marbles are drawn, we can be sure to get marbles of all four colors because when $100$ marbles are drawn, only $11$ marbles are missing and hence no color can be missing from the marbles drawn as there are at least $12$ marbles of each color.

Next, we show that $N=88$ will meet the need. When $88$ marbles are drawn, $111-88=23$ marbles are left and it is entirely impossible to have 2 colors missing (in which case that requires at least $24$ marbles to be left over). It follows that $N=88$ is the answer.
 

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