[Math] the probability that after pulling out of a card deck 3 heart cards, that the 4th card will be also a heart

probabilityprobability theory

What is the probability that after pulling out of a card deck 3 heart cards, that the 4th card will be also a heart? There are 52 cards in the deck and there is no replacement.

$$P(4\text{th heart} | 3 \text{ first hearts}) = \frac{P(4\text{th heart}\cap 3\text{ first hearts})}{P(3\text{ firsthearts})}$$

How do you calculate this probability:
$P(4\text{th heart}\cap 3\text{ first hearts})$

Best Answer

You are overcomplicating things. You can use the more intuitive meaning of conditional probability

The probability of $P(X|Y)$ is the probability that $X$ will happen if you know that $Y$ already happened.

Well, if you know that the first three cards were hearts, then the probability that the fourth card will be a heart is equal to the probability of drawing a heart out of a deck of $49$ cards of which $10$ are hearts.


Of course, you can also go with the original attempt. Then the event

The first three cards were hearts and the fourth card was a heart

Is the same event as

The first four cards were all hearts.