Mislabeled Bins

Brain Teaser · Easy · Free problem
You have three bins of rubber balls. One bin has only yellow balls, one has only red balls, and one has a mix of both. Someone has stuck labels on the bins — "Yellow," "Red," and "Mixed" — but every single label is wrong. You can draw one ball at a time from any bin you choose. 1. What is the fewest number of draws you need to figure out which bin is which? From which bin should you draw? 2. **Follow-up:** Suppose you have $n$ bins, each containing balls of a single color or some mix, and all $n$ labels are wrong. How does your strategy generalize?

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