Marcella has 26 pairs of shoes. If she loses 9 individual shoes, what is the greatest number of matching pairs she could have left? Select:
A) 21
B) 20
C) 19
D) 16
E) 15
Marcella has 26 pairs of shoes and loses 9 shoes.   To minimize the loss of identical pairs of shoes we want Marcella to lose as many identical pairs as possible. This would yield 4 identical pairs and 1 additional shoe (destroying 5 pairs of shoes).   The 26 pairs of shoes minus the 5 'destroyed' pairs yields 21 pairs that still fulfill the requirements.   21nswer: 21
<result>A</result>
Marcella has 26 pairs of shoes. If she loses 9 individual shoes, what is the greatest number of matching pairs she could have left?