There are 6 red, 5 blue and 17 white marbles in the box. If he had picked up 4, they could be (2, 1, 1), not satisfying the condition that at least one of them must be 3. If he had picked up 7 marbles, they could be (7, 0, 0), (6, 1, 0) (5, 2, 0), (5, 1, 1), (4, 3, 0), (4, 2, 1), (3, 3, 1), (3, 2, 2). In all these possibilities there are 3 marbles of the same colour. So, the answer is 7. I am not agreed with this answer why it can not be (4,0,0)
Why 4 is not right answer if it take 4,0,0