Two cards are randomly chosen from a standard deck of 52 playing cards without replacement. What is the probability both cards will be hearts?

1 Answer
Jan 3, 2016

#3/51#

Explanation:

There are 52 cards in the deck, and 4 different suits:
Hearts, Clubs, Spades, and Diamonds.
Hence there are 13 cards of each suit.

So the probability of the first card being a heart is #13/52=1/4#

The cards are not replaced. Now there are 12 hearts in the deck, and 51 cards altogether.

So the probability of the second card being a heart is #12/51#

To find the probability of both of these events occurring, we multiply the probabilities together.

#1/4*12/51=3/51#