For a card trick, Barry is using 14 cards from a deck. If each suit he uses has 5 numbered cards and c face cards, which expression shows how many suits he is using?

Answer 1

face cards = c per suit

numbered cards = 5 per suit

each suit has 5 + c cards

14 = s(5+c)

s = 14/(5+c) = number of suits

c=2

then

s = 14/7 = 2 suits

c= 9

then

s = 14/14 = 1 suit

any other number for c will have a fractional number of suits

either 2 or 4 suits

since c represented cards, plural, go with 2 suits

but the card "TRICK" would be more successful if

you picked a card and Barry guessed the suit, if there were just one suit

Howard Wallowitz had a better card trick that stumped Prof. Sheldon Cooper

on Big Bang, but it requires an accomplice who sneaks a peek at your card