Drawing two aces with and without putting back
Question
Two cards are drawn from a standard -card deck. Find the probability that both are aces (a) if the first card is returned and the deck reshuffled before the second draw, and (b) if the first card is kept out.
Short answer
(a) ; (b) . With replacement each draw is an ace with probability , so . Without replacement it is .
Adapted from Joshi, Denson & Downes, Quant Job Interview Questions and Answers, Q3.21, p.82; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.
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Open the worked solutionLessons behind this question
- Counting and Combinatorics
- Sample Spaces, Events, and the Probability Axioms
- Conditional Probability, Total Probability, and Bayes' Rule
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