Can someone help with a math problem that deals with gambling and parlay cards?

Question

Having lost all of our money and Mr. B losing his job, we wallow in our disappointment as we head over to the lounge to listen to some Elvis impersonator - hey, at least it's free. There on the table is a handout with the different parlay cards on it. We take the $5 bill off the table that the last people left for the cocktail waitress and place a bet. What is the best bet to make on the handout - assuming we are going to make a bet? If you get it right we will win big money, save the day and have enough to give Mr. B enough money to buy the school board and get his job back. Show all work (except unnecessary work) and give explanation- assuming a smart person is looking at the parlay cards.

Thank you so much for your help!!!!!

Answer 1

You left out some critical details necessary to solving this problem.

However, in general, gambling is always designed to return more of your bet to the house than to the person making the bet.

I would instead take the $5 and look for a stable financial investment that will give a positive return rather than a negative return.

Answer 2

There are 4 4's in a deck of 52 cards; so your chance of drawing a 4 is 4/52 = 1/13. The prime numbered cards are 2, 3, 5, and 7. There are 4 of each of these for the 4 suits. That is a total of 16 prime number cards in a deck of 52 cards; so your chance of drawing a prime numbered card is 16/52 = 4/13. There are 3*4=12 face cards in a deck of 52 cards; so your chance of drawing a face card is 12/52 = 3/13. The even numbered cards are 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. There are 2 black suits, so there are a total of 2*5=10 even-numbered black cards; so your chance of drawing an even-numbered black card is 10/52 = 5/26.