Hi Sami,
There is nothing in the question that should lead us to assume the socks John loses are from different pairs. We are told he loses "7 individual socks" but that doesn't mean that the socks are from different pairs. It's our job to figure out the greatest number of matches socks that COULD be left. I hope that helps.
Hi Mike, In solving this problem I assumed that the problem was saying that John lost 1 sock from each pair. Therefore, I came up with the conclusion that if he lost 7 socks from each pair that he would be left with 3 pairs. What key words should I have looked at the problem to reach your assumption?
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