One card is drawn at random from a well-shuffled standard deck of 52 playing cards. What is the probability that the card drawn is red?

Introduction / Context:
This is a basic probability question involving drawing a single card from a standard 52 card deck. The goal is to find the probability that the card drawn is red. It helps reinforce basic knowledge of deck composition and simple probability ratios.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• A standard deck has 52 playing cards.
• There are two red suits: hearts and diamonds.
• Each suit has 13 cards.
• The deck is well shuffled and each card is equally likely to be drawn.
• We want the probability that the card is red (heart or diamond).

Concept / Approach:
Since there are two red suits out of four suits in total, exactly half of the cards in the deck are red. We can either reason directly using this symmetry or count red cards and divide by 52. Both approaches should lead to the same answer.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Total cards in a standard deck = 52. Number of red suits = 2 (hearts and diamonds). Each suit has 13 cards, so number of red cards = 2 * 13 = 26. Probability of drawing a red card = number of red cards / total cards. Compute probability = 26 / 52. Simplify 26 / 52 by dividing numerator and denominator by 26 to get 1 / 2.

Verification / Alternative check:
We can also use a symmetry argument. Two of the four suits are red, and the four suits are symmetric in the deck composition. Therefore, the chance that a random card is red is exactly half. This intuitive reasoning matches the formal calculation of 26 favourable outcomes out of 52 total outcomes, giving probability 1/2.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
1/3: This would imply roughly 17 or 18 red cards out of 52, which is not correct.
1/4: This suggests only one suit or 13 cards are red, but there are actually two red suits.
1/6: This is much too small and does not reflect the deck structure.
None of these: This is incorrect because 1/2 is a listed option and is correct.

Common Pitfalls:
Some learners confuse the number of suits with the number of colors and incorrectly think there is only one red suit. Others may misremember the total number of cards in a standard deck. It is important to recall that hearts and diamonds are red, clubs and spades are black, and there are 52 cards in total. From this, the probability is straightforward to compute.

Final Answer:
Thus, the probability that the drawn card is red is 1/2.