Question

3 cards are chosen at random from a standard 52-card deck. what is the probability that they form a pair? (a 3-card hand is a 'pair' if two of the cards match in rank but the third card is different. for example, 668 is a pair, but 999 is not.)

Answer 1

Hello!

First of all, we have a 4/52, or 1/13 chance of selecting a pair. Then, we select 1/3 cards 3 times, so we use this as our other fraction.

$\frac{1}{13}$$\cdot \frac{1}{3}$=$\frac{1}{39}$

Therefore, we have a 1/39 or about 3%.

I hope this helps!