Question

A card is chosen at random from a standard deck of cards. What is the probability that the card chosen is a heart or spade? Are these events mutually exclusive?

Answer 1

a. Probability is 50%

b. Picking either a heart or spade is mutually exclusive

Explanation:

There are 52 cards in a deck of cards.

Of those 52, 13 are hearts and 13 are spades.

The probability of picking wither of them is therefore:

= (13 + 13) / 52

= 26/52

= 50%

Mutually exclusive events are those that cannot occur at the same time. You can either pick a heart or you can pick a spade. You cannot pick both at the same time so these are mutually exclusive.