Binomial Coefficient/Examples/Number of Bridge Hands
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Theorem
The total number $N$ of possible different hands for a game of bridge is:
- $N = \dfrac {52!} {13! \, 39!} = 635 \ 013 \ 559 \ 600$
Prime Factors
The prime decomposition of the number of bridge hands is given as:
- $\dbinom {52} {13} = 2^4 \times 5^2 \times 7^2 \times 17 \times 23 \times 41 \times 43 \times 47$
Proof
The total number of cards in a standard deck is $52$.
The number of cards in a single bridge hand is $13$.
Thus $N$ is equal to the number of ways $13$ things can be chosen from $52$.
Thus:
\(\ds N\) | \(=\) | \(\ds \dbinom {52} {23}\) | Cardinality of Set of Subsets | |||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds \frac {52!} {13! \left({52 - 13}\right)!}\) | Definition of Binomial Coefficient | |||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds \frac {52!} {13! \, 39!}\) | ||||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds 635 \ 013 \ 559 \ 600\) | after calculation |
$\blacksquare$
Sources
- 1997: Donald E. Knuth: The Art of Computer Programming: Volume 1: Fundamental Algorithms (3rd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): $\S 1.2.6$: Binomial Coefficients: Exercise $3$