The minimum number of cards to be dealt from an arbitrarily shuffled deck of…
2000
The minimum number of cards to be dealt from an arbitrarily shuffled deck of 52 cards to guarantee that three cards are from the same suit is:
- A.
3
- B.
8
- C.
9
- D.
12
Attempted by 26 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
There are 4 suits in a deck. In the worst case, we can deal 2 cards from each suit without having 3 cards of any one suit. That accounts for 2 × 4 = 8 cards. The next card, the 9th card, must belong to one of the 4 suits and will make that suit have at least 3 cards. Hence the minimum number required is 9.