Probability questions, at the eleven plus level, often seem
to involve cards. For some reason or another the writers of some eleven plus mathematics
papers appear to take it for granted that all eleven plus children have access
to packs of cards at school or at home. There will be some children, for one
reason or another, who are not sure how many colour cards there are in a pack,
how many cards in a suite and why the value of an Ace can vary between one and
eleven!
For those children who are allowed to play cards `21s’ provides
a very quick introduction.
Explain to
your child that the aim of the game is to score 21 points.
An Ace is
worth 1 or 11
The King,
Queen and Jack are worth 10
Cards 2 to
10 are worth their face value.
Deal one
card face down to each of players. Deal a second card face up.
Players are
trying to get as close as possible to 21.
It is also
possible to be a winner if one of the players reaches 21 with five cards.
The game
can move along very quickly – but sometimes one or more player seems to take an
age to make up his or her mind.
What
happens, though, if your eleven plus child asks you: “Why is an Ace worth both
one and eleven?”
