Statistics help. i dont understand how to get answers. help appreciated.?

Question

1. a card is drawn from a standard deck of 52 cards. find the probability that the cars is an ace or a black card.

2. how many ways can 2 republicans, 1 democrat, and 1 independent be chosen from 9 republicans, 5 democrats, and 2 independents to fill four positions on city council.

3. at a local racetrack, the favorite in a race has odds 3:2 against winning. what is the probability that the favorite wins the race?

if anyone of these can be answered it would be greatly appreciated. i never understood probability.

=(

Answer 1

1.16/52

3. 3/5

never did i

Answer 2

1.  It's actually 15/52, the 13 black cards plus the 2 red aces/

2.  Who really cares? :)  However since you asked, we have 2 combinations for independants and 5 combinations for democrats so that part's easy.  With the republicans we have 2 out of 9 so this is a little trickier.  1 and 2 through 1 and 9 is 8 then 2 and 3 through 2 and 9 is 7 so we add all those combos (8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1) and get 36.  So 36*2*5=360.

3,  Less than 3/2 because the track needs to make money :)

A.J.

http://kingcobrapoker.com