Problem

Source: 43rd International Tournament of Towns, Junior O-Level P3, Fall 2021

Tags: combinatorics, coins, Tournament of Towns



A pirate has five purses with 30 coins in each. He knows that one purse contains only gold coins, another one contains only silver coins, the third one contains only bronze coins, and the remaining two ones contain 10 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze coins each. It is allowed to simultaneously take one or several coins out of any purses (only once), and examine them. What is the minimal number of taken coins that is necessary to determine for sure the content of at least one purse? Mikhail Evdokimov