In a game of checkers there are 12 red pieces and 12 black game pieces. julio is setting up the board to begin playing. what is the probability that the first two checkers he pulls from the box at random will be two red checkers . can you show me how to work this out ?

Since there are equal numbers of pieces, the chances of Julio getting a red on the first pull is 12/24  or 1/2 (reduced)

However on the second pull there are only 11 reds (Julio pulled one out) out of 23 remaining pieces so the chances of pulling the second red are 11/23

Now multiply those possibilities: 
 1/2  x 11/23 and you will get 11/46 which is the probability of pulling two reds in a row.  11/46 is the answer.  

X=3 and y=4 is the answer