Final answer:
The probability of being dealt a red jack or an ace from a 52-card deck is 1/13. This is calculated by adding the probabilities of drawing a red jack (2/52) and the unique black aces (2/52) to avoid double counting the red aces already included.
Step-by-step explanation:
The probability of being dealt a red jack or an ace from a 52-card deck can be calculated by finding the number of favorable outcomes and dividing by the total number of possible outcomes. A standard deck has 52 cards: 26 red (diamonds and hearts) and 26 black (clubs and spades), with 4 jacks and 4 aces in total.
There are two red jacks (one from hearts and one from diamonds) and 4 aces in the deck. Since these are distinct cards, their probabilities can be added together. The probability of drawing a red jack is 2/52 as there are two red jacks. The probability of drawing an ace is 4/52 because there are 4 aces. However, since two of the aces are red, we have already counted these in the red jack's probability. Therefore, we only add the probability of drawing the two black aces which is 2/52.
Adding these probabilities gives us the total probability of drawing either a red jack or an ace: 2/52 + 2/52 = 4/52, which simplifies to 1/13. So the probability is 1/13.