Probability of drawing a queen or an ace from a pack of playing cards

To solve this problem, we need to determine the total number of favorable outcomes and the total number of possible outcomes.

Favorable outcomes:
In a standard deck of playing cards, there are 4 queens (one queen in each suit - hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades) and 4 aces (one ace in each suit). Therefore, the total number of favorable outcomes is 4 queens + 4 aces = 8.

Total number of possible outcomes:
A standard deck of playing cards consists of 52 cards. Each card is equally likely to be drawn, so the total number of possible outcomes is 52.

Calculating the probability:
The probability of an event happening is given by the formula: Probability = Number of favorable outcomes / Number of possible outcomes.

In this case, the number of favorable outcomes is 8 and the number of possible outcomes is 52.

Probability = 8/52 = 2/13

Therefore, the probability that a card drawn at random from the pack of playing cards may be either a queen or an ace is 2/13.

Explanation:
When drawing a card from a standard deck of playing cards, there are 13 cards in each suit (2-10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace). Since we are interested in the probability of drawing a queen or an ace, we only need to consider the 4 queens and 4 aces in the deck.

The probability is calculated by dividing the number of favorable outcomes (8) by the number of possible outcomes (52). This gives us a probability of 2/13, which represents the likelihood of drawing a queen or an ace from the deck.

It is important to note that this probability assumes that the deck is well-shuffled and each card has an equal chance of being drawn.