Center For Applied Teaching and Learning
to Yield Scientific Thinking

Which Apples are in Which Bag?

You have a total of six apples, three red and three green. You take your apples and place two red apples in a bag, two green apples in a bag, and one red and one green apple in a third bag. A friend plays a trick on you by labeling all the bags incorrectly. Then your friend asks you if you can determine which apples are in which bag by removing just one apple. Remember that all three bags are labeled incorrectly. Is this possible? Explain your answer.

This problem can be solved with pencil and paper, but feel free to use actual paper bags and apples if you wish!

Solution