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Drawing two aces with and without putting back

Question

Two cards are drawn from a standard 5252-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) 1/1691/169; (b) 1/2211/221. With replacement each draw is an ace with probability 113\tfrac1{13}, so 1169\tfrac1{169}. Without replacement it is 452⋅351=1221\tfrac4{52}\cdot\tfrac3{51}=\tfrac1{221}.

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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