If you had to pick a pair of socks out of a box in the dark that contains 24 white socks and 12 black socks how many socks would you need to pick to get a matching pair?

To ensure you get at least one matching pair of socks, you would need to pick 4 socks. This is based on the worst-case scenario, where you could pick 3 socks of different colors (2 white and 1 black, or vice versa). By picking a fourth sock, you guarantee that at least one color will match, resulting in a pair.