Likewise, an extension of the problem is 'how many socks do I have to pull out' if I have three colors? Four? n colors? When you see the solution for all of these, the answer, elegant (to me), is always 'colors + 1'. --That last one will always duplicate one of the previous colors for what is in this case defined as "pair". (Not that I would like to pull out six socks [for five colors] each morning, leaving the remains all over the sink, simply because I was too lazy to pair them in the first place.)

A then more challenging question is 'how many pulls' for two colors, to make THREE identical socks? Or three colors, three socks, etc.