Decide which type of card you will investigate first.

Make 10 rows below this one for the 10 trials you will be doing. For example, there are 26 red cards in a deck, 13 spades, four kings and one queen of hearts. In the first row write how many of that type of card are in the deck. Make a column for each card type you'll investigate.

Draw a table to in which to record your data.

For example, you could investigate red cards, spades, kings and the queen of hearts.

Pick four types of cards to investigate, such as a color, suit, number or face card, and a specific one.

Shuffle the deck three times and set aside. (There should be 54 cards total.) Take out the two jokers.

Count the cards in the deck and make sure it is complete.

This gives you only one chance to get a king, but three chances to get a queen out of the remaining cards. There are four kings and four queens in the deck, and with three kings and one queen in your hand, there's one king and three queens left. For example, if you have three kings and one queen in your hand and it's your turn to ask for a card, which one should you ask your opponent for? You might think you should ask for a king, but it's actually better to take a queen! Why? Because you have a better chance of getting it.

To win, you can rely on chance or you can increase your probability of getting matching cards, but how?īy understanding how chance is related to math, you can play with a winning strategy.

The goal is to get the most four-of-a-kind sets by asking your opponent for matching cards or by drawing them from the deck. Consider the game 'Go Fish' with a regular card deck.

When you draw a card from a deck, you have a certain chance of getting a specific type of card, such as a spade or face card, or one particular card, such as the queen of hearts. You'll discover how math can help you avoid the dreaded phrase, 'Go fish!' Background In this activity you'll investigate the probabilities of drawing specific types of cards from a deck. Have you ever been playing cards and wished you could use psychic powers to draw the card you wanted? You may not be psychic, but you can still have the power of probability on your side.

Playing card queen heart drawing