2007 AMC 8 Problem 21

Attempt Problem 21 of the 2007 AMC 8 below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2007 AMC 8 solutions, or check the answer key.

All problems are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

21.

Two cards are dealt from a deck of four red cards labeled A,A, B,B, C,C, DD and four green cards labeled A,A, B,B, C,C, D.D. A winning pair is two of the same color or two of the same letter. What is the probability of drawing a winning pair?
27\dfrac{2}{7}
38\dfrac{3}{8}
12\dfrac{1}{2}
47\dfrac{4}{7}
58\dfrac{5}{8}
Answer: D
Concepts:basic probabilitysampling without replacement
Small hint:
After the first card is drawn, count favorable second cards.
Big hint:
The same-color cards and same-letter card do not overlap after the first card is removed.
Solution:
After drawing the first card, there are 77 left. 33 of them have the same color, and 11 of them has the same letter. Therefore, there are 44 out of 77 possibilities that result in a winning pair.
The probability of drawing a pair is then 47.\dfrac{4}{7}.
Thus, D is the correct answer.
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