Bridge Hands: 5/6/2 Card Combination

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around calculating the number of possible bridge hands that consist of a specific distribution of cards: 5 cards of one suit, 6 cards of another suit, and 2 cards of a third suit. The scope includes mathematical reasoning and combinatorial calculations related to card distributions in bridge.

Discussion Character

  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant asks how many bridge hands can be formed with 5 cards of one suit, 6 cards of another, and 2 cards of a third suit.
  • Another participant proposes a specific example with hearts, spades, and diamonds, questioning if the answer can be determined.
  • A participant provides a calculation using combinations, suggesting that the total is 172,262,376, and questions the correctness of a textbook answer.
  • Another participant confirms the calculation but notes it applies only to one specific combination of suits and suggests generalizing the approach by considering the number of ways to choose 3 suits from 4.
  • A later reply introduces the need to consider permutations instead of combinations due to the different quantities of each suit, leading to a new calculation resulting in 4,134,297,024 for the total number of hands.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the correct approach to calculating the total number of bridge hands, with some supporting the use of combinations and others advocating for permutations. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the final answer and the methodology used.

Contextual Notes

Participants have not reached a consensus on the correct method for calculating the total number of bridge hands, highlighting the dependence on definitions of combinations versus permutations and the assumptions made about suit selection.

Raerin
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A bridge hand consists of 13 cards. How many bridge hands include 5 cards of one suit, 6 cards of a second suit and 2 cards of a third suit?
 
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What if the question asked instead:

How many bridge hands include 5 cards of hearts, 6 cards of spades and 2 cards of diamonds?

Wold you be able answer that?
 
MarkFL said:
What if the question asked instead:

How many bridge hands include 5 cards of hearts, 6 cards of spades and 2 cards of diamonds?

Wold you be able answer that?

13C5 * 13C6 * 13C2 = 172,262,376

If my question is the same as this one then my textbook's answer key is wrong. The textbook says the answer is 4 xxx, xxx, xxx
 
Raerin said:
13C5 * 13C6 * 13C2?

If my question is the same as this one then my textbook's answer key is wrong.

Yes, good! :D That is correct, but this is for one specific combination of suits only.

Now you want to make it general. You want to multiply this by the number of ways to choose 3 suits from 4.
 
MarkFL said:
Yes, good! :D That is correct, but this is for one specific combination of suits only.

Now you want to make it general. You want to multiply this by the number of ways to choose 3 suits from 4.

I realized after I left that we need to find the permutations, not the combinations regarding the four suits, since order matters in this case because there are a different number of each suit. Hence, the number $N$ of the described bridge hands is:

$$N=\frac{4!}{(4-3)!}\cdot{13 \choose 5}\cdot{13 \choose 6}\cdot{13 \choose 2}=4134297024$$
 

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