[Math] Probability of getting exactly one ace and exactly one king in your opening hand.

probability

In a 52 cards deck, what is the probability of getting exactly one ace and exactly one king in your openning hand (5 cards)?

At first I was calculating the odds like this:

5C2 (44/52) (43/51) (42/50) (4/49) (4/48) = 0.04

But then I realized I have 3 types of cards, aces, kings and non-aces/non-kings. So I'm not sure I can use the binomial factor in this exercise.

Thanks

Best Answer

Answer:

Exactly 1 Ace could be picked in ${4\choose1}$ ways, similarly exactly 1 King could be picked in ${4\choose1}$. Now you have 8 cards removed from the deck and the remainder 3 cards should come from 44 cards which are non - ace and non-king. That you can choose in ${44\choose3}$. Lastly, 5 cards could be chosen in ${52\choose5}$

Thus the probability is $$\approx \dfrac{{4\choose1}.{4\choose1}.{44\choose3}}{{52\choose5}}$$

EDIT:

Other way is :

The Ace could be chosen with a probability $= \frac{4}{52}$

The King could be chosen with a probability $= \frac{4}{51}$

Rest of the three cards could be chosen with a probability $= \frac{44}{50}.\frac{43}{49} .\frac{42}{48}$

These five cards could be picked in $=\frac{5!}{1!.1!.3!} $

Now multiply $$=\frac{4}{52}.\frac{4}{51}.\frac{44}{50}.\frac{43}{49} .\frac{42}{48}.\frac{5!}{1!.1!.3!}$$

The first method is an approximate where as the second one is the most accurate.