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A standard deck has 52 cards: 4 suits (Hearts ♥, Diamonds ♦, Clubs ♣, Spades ♠) × 13 ranks (A, 2-10, J, Q, K). That means 4 of each rank (4 Aces, 4 Kings, etc.) and 13 cards in each suit.
What is a "face card"?
Face cards are cards that show a person's face: Jacks (J), Queens (Q), and Kings (K). They're also called "picture cards" or "court cards".
Note: Aces are NOT face cards (they show an "A", not a face).
How many face cards are there?
3 face cards per suit (J, Q, K) × 4 suits = 12 face cards total.
What does "NOT a face card" mean?
It means drawing an Ace or a number card (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10). That's 1 Ace + 9 number cards = 10 cards per suit = 40 cards total.
Here are all the face cards — the "royal" cards with pictures:
4 Jacks + 4 Queens + 4 Kings = 12 face cards
The remaining 52 - 12 = 40 cards are Aces and number cards
Draw one card from a standard deck. What's the probability it's NOT a face card?
Find P(Face Card) — the event we DON'T want
12 face cards (J, Q, K in each suit) out of 52:
Apply the complement rule
"NOT Face Card" = everything except J, Q, K = Aces + Number cards (2-10):
Result:
✓ About 3 out of 4 cards are NOT face cards ✓
2-10 (36 cards)
J, Q, K (12 cards)
A (4 cards)
| Event | Count | P(E) | P(NOT E) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Face (J, Q, K) | 12 | ||
| Number (2-10) | 36 | ||
| Picture (J, Q, K, A) | 16 | ||
| Even number | 20 |