Math Magic Amazing Tricks With Numbers, Arithmetic & Geometry!

Math Magic:
Amazing Tricks With Numbers, Arithmetic &

Geometry!
Copyright & Other Notices
Published in 2016 by Answers 2000 Limited
Copyright © 2016, Sunil Tanna
Sunil Tanna has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this Work
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988.
The magician graphic on the cover of this book/eBook is Copyright ©
1997-2000 Hemera Technologies Inc., and used under license. This picture
is provided for viewing purposes only and is not to be reproduced or
used/downloaded separately from this book/eBook. The magician is a
model, and the image is used for illustrative purposes only, and not meant to
imply any association or endorsement of said individual with any product or
service.
Information in this book is the opinion of the author, and is correct to the
best of the author's knowledge, but is provided "as is" and without warranty
to the maximum extent permissible under law. Content within this book is
not intended as legal, tax, financial, medical, or any other form of
professional advice.
While we have checked the content of this book carefully, in any
educational book there is always the possibility of typographical errors, or
other errors or omissions. We apologize if any such errors are found, and
would appreciate if readers inform of any errors they might find, so we can
update future editions/updates of this book.
Answers 2000 Limited is a private limited company registered in England
under company number 3574155. Address and other information about
information about Answers 2000 Limited can be found at
www.ans2000.com
Updates, news & related resources from the author can be found at
http://www.suniltanna.com/tricks
Information about other math books by the same author can be found at
http://www.suniltanna.com/math
Introduction
For some time now, I have tutored both children and adults in math and
science. Along the way, I have picked up, and devised, some amusing math
tricks. This book is a collection of such tricks, all based on relatively
simple mathematical concepts.
While I hope the book, and tricks, will be amusing and enjoyable in
themselves – I also hope they can serve an educational purpose:
If you are reading the book, you may learn – or at least improve your
understanding of – key mathematical concepts. Wherever possible, I
have explained the mathematical concepts and ideas that underlie
each trick.
If you are a parent, teach, or tutor, you can use the trick to awaken a
child's interest in mathematics: show them the trick, amaze them, and
then teach them how to do the trick themselves. When you explain
the trick, be sure to explain the mathematical reason why it works.
Many of the tricks involve some aspects of arithmetic, for example
adding, subtracting or multiplying numbers. Doing a trick with a
child affords an excellent opportunity to encourage the child to
practice those operations.
So, have fun with this book – and enjoy the tricks – and the math!
If you want to find out about the other math books that I have written,
please visit: http://www.suniltanna.com/math
For science books that I have written, visit:
http://www.suniltanna.com/science
By the way, if you do enjoy this book, please post a positive review on
Amazon!
A Special Note about the Tricks
When I describe each trick in this book, I have (for the most part) kept the
presentation as simple and direct as possible. For example, when doing a
trick in which you will predict a volunteer's number, I simply suggest
writing it down on the back of piece of a paper – which is ideal for a
teaching situation – but if you are actually doing a magic show, you don't
have to do the trick exactly like that!
If you would like to make the presentation more theatrical, you could, for
example:
Start with a paper in an envelope (the number of course being written
on that piece of paper), give the envelope to a volunteer at the start of
the trick – and at the end of the trick, after asking the volunteer
whether they have had the envelope in their possession the whole
time, ask the volunteer to open the envelope and read out your
prediction.
Or, if you wanted, you could secretly write the number in washable
ink on your arm before doing the trick, conceal the writing under long
sleeves – and then roll-up your sleeve at the end of the trick to reveal
the number.
Some tricks (for example "Magic Number Cards") involve the volunteer
choosing a number, and you figuring out what it is. If you are doing this
trick on a friend, that fact that you figured out their number will be amazing
enough, but if you are doing the trick in front of an audience, the audience
might suspect that you and the volunteer are in cahoots – to disprove this
idea, you could ask the volunteer to write their number down on paper
(without you looking) at the start of the trick, and put the paper in an
envelope. It will seem all the more amazing when you announce at the end
of the trick, what the number in the envelope is.
In general, you can make the presentation of the tricks as simple or
elaborate as you like. If you are going for elaborate and theatrical, the sky
is the limit – for example, if you are do the "International Animals" trick,
instead of simply saying (or writing) "I didn't know elephants live in
Denmark", you could pull a stuffed toy elephant and a packet of Danish
bacon out of magician's hat!
I'll leave the presentation ideas to you – I am sure you can come up with
lots of great ideas – so let's get on with the math tricks...
List of Tricks in this Book
TRICKS WHERE A CALCULATOR IS NOT REQUIRED

Here is a selection of math tricks that do not require the use of a calculator.
Some of these tricks do however require props or specially printed materials
– instructions on how to create/obtain these are provided.
International Animals
Predicting the Digit Sum
Count the Triangles
The Disappearing Square
The Appearing Square
Magic Number Cards
Two-Color Magic Number Cards
Four-Color Magic Number Cards
Color Drop Cards
Missing Digit
ESP Letter Counting
Psychic Sorting
The Enchanted Piggy Bank
Number Transmission
Number Transmission (Advanced)
The Last Word
One-Sided Paper
Escape through the Paper
CARD TRICKS (CALCULATOR NOT REQUIRED)

Here is a selection of math tricks that make use of standard playing cards.
These tricks do not require the use of a calculator.
I Know Your Card
The Last Card
Three Hidden Cards
Lucky Eleven
Favorite Number/Favorite Card
Card Tour
Card Tour (Advanced)
Card Telepathy (Telephone Stud)
TRICKS WHERE A CALCULATOR MAY OPTIONALLY BE USED

Here is a selection of math tricks that do not require the use of a calculator,
but which you may find a calculator helpful for. If performing these tricks
with young children or in a math lesson, I would actually suggest avoiding
the use of a calculator - as these tricks can help make arithmetic practice
fun!
Magic Squares
Magic Squares (Advanced)
Psychic Arithmetic
Kaprekar (3 Digit)
Kaprekar (4 Digit)
Reverse Sum
TRICKS WHERE A CALCULATOR IS RECOMMENDED

Here is a selection of math tricks that do not require the use of a calculator,
but for which I would recommend using a calculator, since the arithmetic
can be quite tedious and/or tricky.
Magic Repeating Digit
Tricky Triple
Calculated Number Transmission
TRICKS WHERE A CALCULATOR IS REQUIRED

Here is a selection of math tricks for which I would strongly recommend
using a calculator, since the arithmetic can be very tricky – also in some
cases (such as "I Know My 3,367 Times Table"), the calculator serves to
emphasize your apparently incredible mathematical abilities.
I Know My 3,367 Times Table
Magic Cubes
Magic Fifths
Golden Sequence
I Know Your Digit
International Animals
Equipment Required:
Code card (optional) – this is a card that you prepare ahead of time and that
illustrates A=1, B=2, C=3, D=4, E=5, F=6, G=7, etc.
Note: You can get a PDF download containing high-quality printable

versions of this code card http://www.suniltanna.com/magic
How the Trick Appears:

You ask a volunteer member of the audience to choose a whole number
between 1 and 10.
You ask the volunteer to multiply their number by 9.
Next, ask the volunteer to add the digits together of the result, so for
example if they had 34, they would calculate 3 + 4 giving 7.
You ask the volunteer to take away 5 from the current number.
Now you show the volunteer the code card (or explain A=1, B=2, C=3,
D=4, E=5, F=6, G=7, etc.), and ask them to choose (but not say aloud), the
first country that comes to mind beginning with the letter which
corresponds to their number.
Next, you ask the volunteer to use the 2nd letter of the country and choose
(but not say aloud), the first animal that comes to mind beginning with that
letter.
You then amaze the volunteer by saying "I didn't know elephants live in
Denmark."
Variation: If you are doing this trick in front of an audience, you

should get the volunteer to say their country and animal aloud, and
then ask the volunteer to open a sealed envelope containing a piece of
paper containing the phrase "I didn't know elephants live in
Denmark". Or, as I mentioned in the introduction, you could do an
especially fancy variation: perhaps pull a packet of Danish bacon and a
soft toy elephant out of a magician's top hat!
How to Do the Trick:

1. There really is nothing to this trick – the answer is always Denmark and
elephant.
2. Enjoy the audience's amazement, revel in their admiration, and bask in

the adoration that being a math-magician brings!
How the Trick Works:

1. As mentioned in Teach Your Kids Math: Multiplication Times Tables,
for any number which is a multiple of 9, the digits will always sum to a
multiple of 9. Moreover, for all of the first 10 numbers in the 9 times table,
the sum of digits is in fact always 9.
2. This means that the volunteer's final number will always be 4, which in
turn leads to the letter D.
3. There are relatively few countries beginning with the letter D, of which
Denmark is by the far the best known. This makes it highly likely the
volunteer will choose Denmark.
Tip: It really is extremely likely that the volunteer will choose

Denmark as their country – but there are a few other countries whose
names begin with D. This might be a problem if you are doing the trick
in the Caribbean (which contains the Dominican Republic), or in
Somalia (which borders Djibouti), or you audience consists of
geographers and map-makers. One way to improve the odds that the
volunteer will choose Denmark, by much earlier in your act, casually
mentioning your recent European holiday, and how you spent time
touring northern Europe and Scandinavia, including Germany,
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. (This takes advantage of a well-
known psychological effect known as "priming").
Predicting the Digit Sum
Equipment Required:
Pen
Paper

You write something on paper and then turn the paper over.
You ask a volunteer member of the audience to choose a two-digit number

(10 to 99 inclusive).
You ask the volunteer to add the digits of their number together, and then
subtract the result from the starting number. For example, if the starting
number was 43, they would do 4 + 3 = 7, and then 43 - 7.
The volunteer will now have a two-digit or one-digit number. If they have a
two-digit number, you ask them to add the digits together to get a one-digit
number.
You turn over the paper - and reveal that you predicted the result!

1. Simply write 9 on the back of the paper. The final number is always 9.
2. Perform the trick as described, and enjoy the audience's amazement,
revel in their admiration, and bask in the adoration that being a math-
magician brings!

1. As already mentioned, the final answer will always be 9. Here is why:
The two-digit number that the volunteer starts with can of course be
any number.
In the event that they chose a number which is in the 9 times table,
then the digits will add up to 9 (see the chapter on the 9 times table in
Teach Your Kids Math: Multiplication Times Tables). So, when
they subtract the sum of the digits (9), they will generate with a new
number which is the 9 times table.
In the event that they chose a number which is not in the 9 times
table, then the sum of the digits will be the difference between their
number and a smaller number which is in the 9 times table (although
not necessarily the next smaller number in the 9 times table). So
when they subtract the sum of the digits, they will generate a new
number which is in the 9 times table.
Thus, after the subtraction, they will always have a number which is
in the 9 times table.
As mentioned previously, and explained in Teach Your Kids Math:
Multiplication Times Tables, the sum of the digits of any number
which is in the 9 times table is always a multiple of 9 – and for
numbers less than 100, is always in fact 9.
Count the Triangles
Equipment Required:
Pen
Paper
Some Important Terminology

Before discussing the details of this trick, let's take a moment to review
some relevant terminology:
A polygon is closed 2D-shape made of straight line segments. The
straight line segments are known as sides, and the places where one
straight line segment meets another one, are known as vertices
(singular: vertex).
A convex polygon is one in which any two points inside the shape
can be connected by a straight line segment that does not go outside
the shape.
Polygons which are not convex are known as non-convex polygons
(or concave polygons). In non-convex polygons, there are some pairs
of points inside the shape which can only be joined using straight line
segments which go outside the shape.
You ask a volunteer from the audience to choose a number between 3 and
12 (you can allow larger numbers but the trick becomes harder and takes
longer if you do – you can not allow numbers less than 3, as it would make
the next step, drawing a polygon, impossible).
You then either draw, or ask the volunteer (or a second volunteer if you
prefer) to draw, a convex polygon with that number of sides (and vertices).
Make sure that there is a dot at each of the vertices of the polygon. Since
there will always be the same number of vertices as there are sides, the
easiest way to draw the polygon is simply to draw an appropriate number of
dots in a roughly circular pattern, and then join them using straight line
segments.
After creating the shape, the drawing should look something like this:
Next you ask the volunteer (or a third volunteer) to choose a number
between 3 and 12 (you can allow larger numbers, and/or 1 or 2 if you want
– but larger numbers require much more drawing and time, and 1 and 2 do
not give very impressive results).
At this point you announce (or write down to reveal later) a number.
You now ask the volunteer (or a fourth volunteer) to mark the chosen
number of points inside the polygon. For example, if the first chosen
number was 7, and second was 8, you would end-up with a drawing of 7-
sided polygon containing 8 dots that might look something like this:
The next step is to ask the volunteer (or a fifth volunteer) to join together
the dots (both the dots inside the polygon and those at the vertices) using
straight line segments. The dots can be joined in any way that they like, in
any order, but there are three restrictions:
The lines segments may not cross.
The volunteer should keep going until the entire polygon has been
subdivided into triangles.
Every dot must be at the vertex of one or more triangles – and it may
not be in the middle of a side of a triangle. So, this would not be
valid because the dot indicated is not at the vertex of the triangle, and
is in the middle of a side.
After all of the dots have been joined up using line segments, the polygon
should look something like this:
Now ask the volunteer (or a sixth volunteer) to count the triangles inside the
polygon, numbering or ticking them off as they go.
They will be amazed to discover that the number of triangles matches the
number that you predicted earlier!

1. Perform the trick as described above
2. The number of triangles that will be appear at the end is given by a

simple formula, a + 2b - 2, where a is the number of sides in the polygon,
and b is the number of dots within the polygon. So, for example, if the
shape was a 7-sided polygon containing 8 dots, the total number of triangles
will be 7 + ( 2 × 8 ) - 2 = 21. Notice that you can calculate the number of
triangles as soon as you know the number of sides and dots – but before the
drawing has begun (or even without seeing the drawing).
3. Since you don't control where the lines or dots are placed, or how they
will be joined, it might seem almost supernatural that you can know how
many triangles there will be – so enjoy the audience's amazement, revel in
their admiration, and bask in the adoration that being a math-magician
brings!

1. The sum of interior angles (the angles at the vertices inside the
polygon) of any convex polygon can be calculated using a simple formula.
For a polygon with a sides, the sum of interior angles is 180a - 360. This is
because
An a-sided polygon can be divided into a triangles (all triangles
sharing a vertex somewhere inside the triangle).
Each triangle contains angles that add-up to 180°, so the total of all
the angles in all the triangles is a × 180, or 180a.
The sum of the interior angles of the polygon is the same as the total
angles in all the triangles, except that the triangles contain an extra
360° at their shared vertex within the polygon. Hence the sum of the
interior angles in the polygon is 180a - 360.
For example, a 7-sided polygon will contain interior angles that add-up to 7
× 180 - 360 = 900°. This is because such a polygon could be divided into
7 triangles (each triangle containing angles that add-up to 180°), and the
sum of the interior angles of the polygon is the same as the sum of the
angles in all the triangles minus the central 360° where the triangles all join
together.
2. Next consider the situation when we have placed many dots inside the
polygon and subdivided it into many triangles. Each of the angles in these
triangles will have arisen from one of two sources:
Either, the angle arises because it is part of one of interior angles of
the polygon (note: all interior angles are completely used in one
triangle or another).
Or, the angle arises around one of the dots placed inside the
polygon. Each of the interior dots has 360° of angles around it, so if
there are b dots, these angles up to b × 360, or 360b.
We already know that the sum of interior angles is 180a - 360. So, putting
this together with the fact that interior dots provide angles that add-up to
360b, the sum of all angles in all these triangles must be 180a - 360 + 360b,
which can also be written as 180a + 360b - 360.
Finally, since we also know the angles within each of these triangles add-up
to 180°, we can work out the number of triangles by dividing 180a + 360b -
360 by 180. This gives the formula a + 2b - 2.
The Disappearing Square
Equipment Required:
Triangle cut from squared paper – Draw (or print) the following shape on
squared paper. Cut along the black lines so that each of the colored pieces
can be moved independently of each other.
Note: You can get a PDF download containing printable versions of

these triangle shapes from http://www.suniltanna.com/magic

You lay out the pieces of the triangle as shown:
You demonstrate to the audience that this triangle is 5 squares high by 13
squares wide. You can if you wish further explain that the area of the
triangle is given by the formula ½ × base × height. For this particular
triangle, the base is 13, the height is 5, so the triangle's area is ½ × 13 × 5 =
32½ squares.
You separate the pieces of the triangle and move them around the table, say
some magic words, and then reassemble the pieces like this:
You can demonstrate to the audience that the new configuration is still 5
squares high by 13 squares wide – apparently unchanged in size and area,
but one of the colored squares seems to have become lost.
1. Simply follow the steps as described above – the trick works itself.
2. It really does look like you made a square disappear – is it magic, sleight
of hand, or math? Enjoy the audience's amazement, revel in their
admiration, and bask in the adoration that being a math-magician brings!

1. The number and area of colored squares did not change during the trick
– it's much simpler than that - the second shape is not a triangle!
In the second shape there is a slight bend in the diagonal where the pieces
meet:
2. Some people might say this is not really a math trick since it relies on a
mistaken assumption and arguably an element of deception – I however
respectfully disagree. Part of being a good mathematician is not to make
assumptions (or at least to question the assumptions that you do make). As
far as deception is concerned, if you are careful in your choice of phrasing
when doing the trick, you need never state the second shape is a triangle –
so any deception that occurred would be the audience deceiving themselves
with their own mistaken assumptions.
The Appearing Square
Equipment Required:
Scissors
Shapes drawn on squared paper – Draw (or print) the following shape on
squared paper.
Note: You can get a PDF download containing printable versions of

these triangle shapes from http://www.suniltanna.com/magic

You give the squared paper to a volunteer to examine.
You ask the volunteer to count the number of small squares inside the large
square – they will find it is 8 squares across, by 8 down, and therefore
contains 8 × 8 = 64 squares.
You ask the volunteer to cut out the shapes using the scissors by carefully
cutting along the black lines.
You then rearrange the shapes to form the following figure:
You ask the volunteer to count the number of small squares inside the shape
– they should find it is 13 squares across, by 5 down, and therefore contains
13 × 5 = 65 squares.
Somehow a new square seems to have appeared from nowhere!

1. Simply follow the steps as described above – the trick works itself.
2. It really does look like you made a square appear from nowhere – is it
magic, sleight of hand, or math? Enjoy the audience's amazement, revel in
brings!

1. As with The Disappearing Square, this trick relies on the audience and
volunteer making mistaken assumptions. It looks like the final shape is a
rectangle made of two triangles, but actually the pieces don't fit together
perfectly!
Magic Number Cards
Note: For similar but more advanced tricks, see Two-Color Magic
Number Cards and Four-Color Magic Number Cards.
Equipment Required:
Magic number cards (required) – You need to prepare a set of seven cards
containing different combinations of numbers. It is very important that the
correct set of numbers appears on each card – no extra or missing numbers!
Here is the list of numbers to put on each of the cards:

First card: 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41
43 45 47 49 51 53 55 57 59 61 63 65 67 69 71 73 75 77 79 81 83 85
87 89 91 93 95 97 99
Second card: 2 3 6 7 10 11 14 15 18 19 22 23 26 27 30 31 34 35 38
39 42 43 46 47 50 51 54 55 58 59 62 63 66 67 70 71 74 75 78 79 82
83 86 87 90 91 94 95 98 99
Third card: 4 5 6 7 12 13 14 15 20 21 22 23 28 29 30 31 36 37 38 39
44 45 46 47 52 53 54 55 60 61 62 63 68 69 70 71 76 77 78 79 84 85
86 87 92 93 94 95 100
Fourth card: 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 40 41 42
43 44 45 46 47 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 88
89 90 91 92 93 94 95
Fifth card: 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 48 49 50
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88
89 90 91 92 93 94 95
Sixth card: 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49
50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 96 97 98 99 100
Seventh card: 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81
82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
versions of all these magic number cards from
http://www.suniltanna.com/magic

between 1 and 100 (inclusive).
You show the volunteer each magic number card in turn (you do not need
to show the cards in any particular order), and ask them whether their
number is on that card – "yes" or "no".
After you have shown the volunteer each of the seven magic number cards,
you immediately tell the volunteer their number.

1. As you show the volunteer each card you need to keep a running total in
your head:
If the volunteer says "yes" when they see a card, add the smallest
number on that card to your running total.
If the volunteer says "no", then you do not need to do anything.
After you have shown all the cards, the running total is the volunteer's
number.
Tip: If you struggle with some of the mental additions, show the cards
with the largest smallest-numbers first (the fifth, sixth and seventh
card). You can memorize 64 + 32 = 96, 64 + 16 = 80, and 32 + 16 = 48.
Any remaining additions that you might have to do, involve only
adding small numbers to the total, and thus should be easy to work
out. Additionally, if you show the first card last, then all you have to do
after showing it, is either to announce the total that you already have –
or to add 1 to your running total – both of which can be done quickly –
helping build the illusion that you worked the answer out instantly.
2. When you reveal the answer, enjoy the audience's amazement, revel in
brings!

1. The trick is based on the binary (base two) number system:
In the familiar base ten number system, the columns in a written
number correspond to powers of ten (units, 10s, 100s, 1000s, etc.),
and each column can contain a digit from 0 to 9 (one less than ten).
The binary number (base two) system can represent the same
numbers as base ten can – it just does so differently. In the binary
number system, the columns in a written number correspond to
powers of two (units, 2s, 4s, 8s, 16s, etc.), and each column can only
contain a digit of 0 or 1 (one less than two).
2. The cards are set up such that each card corresponds to a different digit
column in the binary number system. When the volunteer looks at the card
and tells you whether their number is on it, they are telling you whether
there is a 1 (number present on the card), or a 0 (number not present on the
card), in a particular column, in the binary representation of their number.
3. By the time that you have shown the volunteer all the cards, you will
have effectively generated a complete binary representation of the
volunteer's number. Of course, you would not want to generate a binary
number which you then had to convert to base ten at the end of the trick –
so by adding the smallest numbers on each "yes" card, you are effectively
converting as you go.
Note: For a similar but simpler trick, see Magic Number Cards. For a
similar but more advanced trick, see Four-Color Magic Number Cards.
Equipment Required:
Two-color magic number cards (required) – You need to prepare a set of
seven cards containing different colored combinations of numbers. Each of
the cards contains the numbers 1 to 100 inclusive, but the numbers are
colored differently on each of the cards. It is very important that the
numbers are correctly colored on each card!
Here is how to color the numbers on each of the cards:

First card: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66
67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88
89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
Second card: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43
44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65
66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87
88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
Third card: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66
67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88
89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
Fourth card: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66
67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88
89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
Fifth card: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66
67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88
89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
Sixth card: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66
67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88
89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
Seventh card: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43
44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65
66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87
88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

You show the volunteer each two-color magic number card in turn (you do
not need to show the cards in any particular order), and ask them whether
their number is "red" or "black" on each card.
After you have shown the volunteer each of the two-color magic number
cards, you immediately tell the volunteer their number.

your head:
If the volunteer says "red" when they see a card, add the smallest red
number on that card to your running total.
If the volunteer says "black", then you do not need to do anything.
number.
Tip: If you struggle with some of the mental additions, show the cards
with the largest smallest-red numbers first (the fifth, sixth and seventh
card). You can memorize 64 + 32 = 96, 64 + 16 = 80, and 32 + 16 = 48.
Any remaining additions that you might have to do, involve only
adding small numbers to the total, and thus should be easy to work
out. Additionally, if you show the first card last, then all you have to do
after showing it, is either to announce the total that you already have –
or to add 1 to your running total – both of which can be done quickly –
helping build the illusion that you worked the answer out instantly.
brings!

1. As with the Magic Number Cards trick, this trick is based on the binary
(base two) number system:
The binary number (base two) system can represent the same
numbers as base ten can – it just does so differently. In the binary
powers of two (units, 2s, 4s, 8s, 16s, etc.), and each column can only
contain a digit of 0 or 1 (one less than two).
column in the binary number system. When the volunteer looks at the card
and tells you which color their number is on it, they are telling you whether
there is a 1 (the number is red on the card), or a 0 (number is black on the
card), in a particular column, in the binary representation of their number.
have effectively generated a complete binary representation of the
volunteer's number. Of course, you would not want to generate a binary
so by adding the smallest red numbers, you are effectively converting as
you go.
Four-Color Magic Number Cards
Note: For similar but simpler tricks, see Magic Number Cards and
Equipment Required:
Four-color magic number cards (required) – You need to prepare a set of
four cards containing different combinations of numbers. Each of the cards
contains the numbers 1 to 100 inclusive, but the numbers are colored
differently on each of the cards. It is very important that the numbers are
correctly colored on each card!

First card: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66
67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88
89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
Second card: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43
44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65
66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87
88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
Third card: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66
67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88
89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
Fourth card: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66
67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88
89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100


You show the volunteer each four-color magic number card in turn (you do
not need to show the cards in any particular order), and ask them what is
the color of their number – "black", "red", "blue", or "green".
After you have shown the volunteer each of the four-color magic number
cards, you immediately tell the volunteer their number.

your head:
If the volunteer says "red", "blue", or "green" when they see a card,
add the smallest number of that color on that card to your running
total.
If the volunteer says "black", then you do not need to do anything.
number.
Tip: If you struggle with some of the mental additions, show the third
and fourth cards first. You can memorize 64 + 32 = 96 and 64 + 16 =
80. Any remaining additions that you might have to do, involve only
adding relatively small numbers to the total, and thus should be easy to
work out. Thus, when you reach the last card, and immediately give
the volunteer's number, it will create the illusion that you worked it out
instantly.
brings!

1. This trick is based on the base four number system:
The base four number system can represent the same numbers as base
ten can – it just does so differently. In the base four number system,
the columns in a written number correspond to powers of four (units,
4s, 16s, 64s, etc.), and each column can only contain a digit of 0, 1, 2
or 3 (one less than four).
column in the base four number system. When the volunteer looks at the
card and tells you whether their number is on it, they are telling you
whether there is a 0, 1, 2, or 3 in a particular column, in the base four
representation of their number.
have effectively generated a complete base four representation of the
volunteer's number. Of course, you would not want to generate a base four
so, by keeping a running total, you are effectively converting as you go.
Color Drop Cards
Equipment Required:
Color drop cards (required) – You need to prepare a set of eight cards. Each
of these cards is printed with two numbers: one side of the card is printed
with a black number 1 to 8 (inclusive), and the reverse side is printed with a
red number 9 to 16 (inclusive). It is very important that the red 9 appears
on the reverse of the black 1, the red 10 on the reverse of the black 2, the
red 11 on the reverse of the black 3, and so on.

First card: 1 on front, 9 on back (fold down the middle):
Second card: 2 on front, 10 on back (fold down the middle):

Third card: 3 on front, 11 on back (fold down the middle):
Fourth card: 4 on front, 12 on back (fold down the middle):

Fifth card: 5 on front, 13 on back (fold down the middle):
Sixth card: 6 on front, 14 on back (fold down the middle):
Seventh card: 7 on front, 15 on back (fold down the middle):

Eighth card: 8 on front, 16 on back (fold down the middle):

versions of all these color drop cards from
You give the cards to a volunteer, and then are blindfolded.
You ask the volunteer to shuffle the cards, and then throw them up in the air
(so that some cards land with red numbers face-up, and others land with
black numbers face-up).
You ask the volunteer to tell you how many cards are showing red numbers,
and how many black.
Note: You don't actually need the volunteer to tell you how many black
numbers – you just need the number of visible red numbers – but by
asking for extra unnecessary information you can draw attention away
from the fact that you are only using the number of red numbers.
You say a number, and then ask the volunteer to add up the values showing
on the cards – you correctly predicted the total!

1. You need to do a little mental arithmetic after the volunteer tells you the
number of visible red numbers.
2. The total is given by the formula 36 + 8n, where n is the number of red
numbers. For example, if 3 red numbers were visible, then n would be 3,
and the total would be 36 + ( 8 × 3 ) = 36 + 24 = 60.
1. The total for all the black numbers is 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 = 36.
2. Each red number on the reverse of a card is always 8 more than the
black number on the front of a card – thus simply adding 8 for every red
number showing will always give the correct total.
Missing Digit
Equipment Required:
Pen
Paper

You ask a volunteer member of the audience to choose any whole number
with at least four digits. The volunteer should write down their number on
the paper without revealing it to you (for example, they might choose
23507).
Next you ask the volunteer to add up the digits of their number and write
this underneath (so if they chose 23507 as their original number, they would
calculate 2 + 3 + 5 + 0 + 7 = 17, and write 17 underneath 23507).
Next you ask the volunteer to subtract the digit total from their original
number (so if they had 23507 and 17, they would subtract 17 from 23507
resulting in 23490), and write this down on the paper.
Finally, you ask the volunteer to read out all but one of the digits of the final
number on their paper (so in the example they would read out all but one of
the digits of 23490 – so they might, for example, say "2, 3, 9, 0").
You then amaze the volunteer and the audience by correctly stating the
missing digit.
1. When the volunteer gives you the final list of digits, add them up in your
head as you go.
If the digits add up to a multiple of 9, then the missing digit is 0.
If the digits do not add up to a multiple of 9, then work out what you
would need to add to reach the next number in the 9 times table – this
is the missing digit. For example, if the volunteer reads out "2, 3, 9,
0", you would work out 2 + 3 + 9 + 0 = 14, the next number in the 9
times table is 18, which is 14 + 4, so the missing digit must be 4.

1. The final number (before removing a digit) will always be a multiple of
9. As mentioned in Teach Your Kids Math: Multiplication Times Tables,
for any number which is a multiple of 9, the digits will always sum to a
multiple of 9, so the missing digit will be whatever is required to make the
digits sum up to a multiple of 9.
ESP Letter Counting
Equipment Required:
Pen
Paper

You take out a pen and paper and place them on the table. You write
something on the paper, and then turn the paper over.
Next, you ask a volunteer member of the audience to choose a number

between one and a hundred. The volunteer should write down the number
in digits and then as a word on the paper.
Ask the volunteer to count the number of letters in the word version of their
number, and this becomes the volunteer's new number. The volunteer then
writes down the new number both in digits and a word, and counts the
letters in the word form. You repeat this process again and again.
Eventually the volunteer will reach a number that you predicted – at which
point you can interrupt the volunteer, turn over the paper and amaze the
audience. Or, if you prefer not to interrupt the volunteer, they will
eventually reach a number that repeats forever (because it has the same
number of letters in it as its value) – which again will be a number that you
predicted.

1. Simply write 4 on the back of the paper. The final number is always 4 –
of course the audience does not know that!
2. When you reveal your correct prediction, enjoy the audience's

amazement, revel in their admiration, and bask in the adoration that being a
math-magician brings!

1. The number "four" is the only English number which has the same
number of letters as its name, so in every other case, each number will be
followed by a different number. Thus whatever number that the volunteer
starts with, they will gradually move through a succession of different
numbers until they eventually reach 4.
(Note: It would be theoretically possible to have loop – for example, one

number which led to second number, and the second number which led
back to the first – however, fortunately for us math-magicians, that never
happens in English!)
Psychic Sorting
Equipment Required:
Blindfold
Othello/Reversi counters or some other kind of two-sided objects in which
the two faces are clearly different from each other. Othello/Reversi
counters are ideal, as they are black on one side, and white on the other. If
you do not have counters, you could use coins (heads and tails), although
with these, audience members may incorrectly assume that you are feeling
the coins to tell which side is facing up.

Ask for a volunteer member of the audience.
Ask the volunteer member of the audience to spread the counters (or coins)
around the table randomly so that some have one face up (the white side, or
heads if using coins), and some have the other the other face up (the black
side, or tails if using coins).
Explain the difference between shuffling (moving the counters/coins around

on the table), and flipping (turning the counters/coins over).
You now ask the volunteer to blindfold you.
Next, you ask the volunteer to shuffle the counters/counters around on the
table – but be sure to remind that no flipping is allowed – you can say it
interferes with the psychic waves necessary to complete the trick. The
counters/counters should then be pushed close together near the middle of
the table.
You explain that while blindfolded you are going to separate the
counters/counter into two piles, with equal numbers of white/heads in each
pile. Ask the volunteer to places your hands next to the counters/coins on
the table, so that you can feel where they are.
You then sort the counters/coins into two piles.
You step away from the table, ask the volunteer to remove your blindfold.
You ask the volunteer to count the number of white/heads in each pile, and
to his/her amazement, the numbers will be the same for both piles.

1. Before putting on the blindfold take a quick count of the number of the
total number of whites/heads.
2. One pile consists of that number of counters/coins – and as you add each
counter/coin to that pile, you flip it.
3. The other pile consists of the rest of the counters/coins – be sure not to
flip any counters/coins when adding them to that pile.
4. After completing the trick, enjoy the audience's amazement, revel in

brings!
1. Imagine there are a total of W white counters on the table when you put
your blindfold on. This number does not change during the shuffling
process (this is why the volunteer is not allowed to flip any counters).
2. You now separate into two piles, let's call them Pile 1 and Pile 2.
Pile 1 consists of W counters in total, of which some unknown
number, let's call it X, are white. The number of black counters in
Pile 1 is therefore W - X.
Pile 2 contains all the rest of the counters. Since there were originally
W white counters in total, and we put X of those white counters into
Pile 1, there must be therefore be W - X white counters in Pile 2.
If we flip all counters in Pile 1, then its the white counters become
black, and the black become white. Thus, after flipping all the
counters in Pile 1 (or alternatively flipping each counter as we add it
to Pile 1), we would end up with Pile 1 containing W - X white
counters, and X black counters.
Pile 1 and Pile 2 would thus both end up with W - X white counters –
that is to say, the same number of white counters.
The Enchanted Piggy Bank
Equipment Required:
A piggy bank (or money box) into which coins can be dropped, and which
can be easily opened at the end of the trick
A large collection of pennies

You ask for a volunteer member of the audience to step forward.
On the table is a piggy bank (or money box) with a coin slot. You ask the
volunteer to examine the piggy bank, and give it a shake to confirm it
contains some coins.
You then tell them that the volunteer that money box is magically enchanted
and if they follow the right steps, it will alter its contents to magically
match the number of coins the volunteer is holding in his right hand.
You put a pile of pennies in the middle of the table, and ask the volunteer to
pick up a few (as many as he wants, but at least three) in his right hand.
You then tell the volunteer must then pick up an equal number in his left
hand.
Now you ask the volunteer to transfer one coin from his left hand to his
right hand, saying the magic words "Hocus pocus enchanted piggy bank
count the coins in my right hand", turning clockwise on the spot, and then
touching his right hand to his forehead (obviously feel free to vary the
precise instructions!).
You ask the volunteer to repeat the process two more times, until the
volunteer has transferred a total of three coins from his left hand to his right
hand.
Finally, you ask the volunteer to do the process in reverse – that is to

transfer one coin back from his right hand to his left hand while saying the
words "Hocus pocus enchanted piggy bank count the coins in my right
hand", turning anti-clockwise on the spot, and then touching his left hand to
his forehead (again, feel free to vary the precise instructions!).
After this incantation is complete, you ask the volunteer to put all the coins
which are into his left hand into the piggy bank's coin slot.
Now you ask the volunteer to count the coins in his right hand and place
them on the table in a pile.
Finally you ask the volunteer to open the piggy bank, empty the coins
inside it into a pile, and count the coins that were inside.
The volunteer (and the audience) will be amazed to find that the piggy
bank's total matches the number of coins that were in the volunteer's right
hand.

1. Before starting the trick, you simply put four coins in the piggy bank.
2. You then just follow the steps trick as described above, and the number
of coins will always match.
3. When they are stunned by this apparently incredible feat, enjoy the
audience's amazement, revel in their admiration, and bask in the adoration
that being a math-magician brings!

1. The piggy bank always starts off by containing 4 coins.
2. Let us imagine that that the volunteer picks up X coins in each hand.
3. After transferring three coins from his left hand to his right hand, the
volunteer's left hand will contain X - 3 coins, and his right hand will contain
X + 3 coins.
4. After transferring one coin back from his right hand to his left hand, the
volunteer's left hand will contain X - 2 coins, and his right hand will now
contain X + 2 coins.
5. When the volunteer places the coins from his left hand into the piggy
bank slot, he will be adding the X - 2 coins that were in his left hand, to the
4 coins that were initially in the piggy bank. The piggy bank would then
end-up containing ( X - 2 ) + 4 = X + 2 coins – which of course is the same
number of coins that the volunteer is holding in his right hand.
Number Transmission
This trick works best when done on a large audience, but it is also
possible to do it on an individual (although in that case it doesn't work
every time). You may seen TV programs or videos in which the trick is
done on individuals, and of course works – the filmmakers get round
the problem of it not working every time, by simply not showing the
videos of when it didn't work!
Note: If you have an assistant, you can try the variant of this trick
called Number Transmission (Advanced). There is also another
variation of the trick, in which you use a volunteer from the audience to
help transmit the number, called Calculated Number Transmission.
Equipment Required:
Pens (one for each participating member of the audience)
Paper (one sheet prepared in advance, plus one for each participating
member of the audience)

You begin with one sheet of paper placed writing-side down (or in an
envelope) on a table on the stage.
You hand out blank sheets of paper and pens to each member of the
audience.
You explain that the paper on the table contains a number, and that in a
moment, you will read the number to yourself and then attempt to mentally
transmit it to the audience.
You go to the table and tell the audience not to write anything until you
say. However, when instructed, they should write down, in as large writing
as possible, the first number that they think of onto their paper.
You pick up the paper, and apparently concentrating hard on telepathic

transmission, you say "It's a number between 1 and 50. Both digits are odd,
and they are different from each other – so 17 or 19 would be possible
numbers, but 11 would not be. Please write down the number that I am
transmitting."
After everyone has finished writing, you ask the audience to hold up their
papers above their heads, and you yours above your head – nearly
everybody has the same number as you!

1. The number on the paper that you "transmit" is 37 – nearly everybody
chooses this as their number.


1. The trick relies on three elements:
When you say the number is in the range 1 to 50, most people assume
that means that there are 50 possible choices of number, and that your
clues narrow down the choice just a little. However by saying that
both digits are odd, and that they differ from each other, you actually
have eliminated all but eight of the numbers – 13, 15, 17, 19, 31, 35,
37 and 39.
Because you mentioned 17 and 19 as examples of possible numbers,
most people will assume that they can not be the actual number –
narrowing down the choice still further to just six numbers – 13, 15,
31, 35, 37, and 39.
People tend to have a poor understanding of randomness, somehow
37 (and to a lesser extent 35) seems more likely as a random choice
than the other options.
Number Transmission (Advanced)
Note: If you do not have an assistant, you can do a variant of this trick
called Number Transmission. There is also another variation of the
trick, in which you use a volunteer from the audience to help transmit
the number, called Calculated Number Transmission.
Equipment Required:
Paper (lots of sheets – one for each participating member of the audience,
plus one extra sheet)

You explain to the audience you are going to attempt an experiment in
mental telepathy.
You ask your assistant to choose a number at random between 1 and 50, to
write it down on a piece of paper, and then put the paper face-down on a
table on the stage without showing you the number.
Next, you ask your assistant to hand out blank sheets of paper and pens to
each member of the audience.
When the audience is ready, you ask your assistant to mentally transmit the
number to you. After a few moments of intense concentration, you say
"Got it!"
You now explain that you will attempt to transmit the number to the
audience. You tell the audience not to write anything until you say.
However, when instructed, they should write down, in as large writing as
possible, the first number that they think of onto their paper.
Apparently concentrating very hard on telepathic transmission, you say "It's

a number between 1 and 50. Both digits are odd, and they are different
from each other – so 17 or 19 would be possible numbers, but 11 would not
be. Please write down the number that I am transmitting."
papers above their heads, and the assistant to reveal the number that he
chose – nearly everybody has apparently received the number.

1. The number chosen by your assistant that you "transmit" is 37 – nearly
everybody chooses this as their number.
2. Most people who don't choose 37 will choose 35. So, to be extra sneaky,
and make them think that they almost got it, your assistant can write 35 on
his paper, apparently change his mind, cross it out, and write 37 on the
paper as his final choice.


1. The trick works for the same reason as Number Transmission (explained
previously).
The Last Word
Note: For a trick based on a similar idea, but using playing cards, see
The Last Card.
Equipment Required:
Pen
Paper
A printed copy of any piece of prose text of reasonable length – it does not
need to be the whole text, a page or two is fine. Some ideas for texts that
you could use: the US Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution,
the Gettysburg Address, one of Winston Churchill's Speeches, a section of
your favorite novel, etc.

You write something on the paper, and then place the paper face-down.
You ask for a volunteer from the audience and show the volunteer the text.
You ask the volunteer to select any word in the first sentence of the text.
The volunteer should count the number of letters in their word, and then
move that number of words forward to reach a new word. They then count
the number of letters in the new word, and move that number of letters
forward to reach a second new word, and so on. Eventually the volunteer
will reach the end of the page/text – the final word reached just before the
end is their last word.
When the volunteer announces their last word, you then turn the paper over,
and amaze everybody by showing that you correctly predicted their last
word.
Alternative Version: Instead of using the last word on the page instead
divide the text into three sections – a fairly short beginning section of a
sentence or two, a fairly short end section of a sentence or two, and a
middle section ideally of a few sentences. Once you have done this, ask
the volunteer to start from any word in the beginning section, and
count along until they reach the first word in the end section – which of
course will be a word that you predicted.

1. Ahead of time, try counting out word lengths through the text, exactly as
if you were a volunteer – using the exact same process that you will ask the
volunteer to use.
2. The fact that you may not start from the same word as the volunteer
does not matter – because regardless of where you start from, it is
extremely likely that you have the same final word as the volunteer,
provided the word count of the text as a whole is significantly longer than
the longest word length, and that the volunteer is required to start fairly near
the beginning of the text.
With very short pieces of text, there may be some small risk that your
prediction may be incorrect.

1. This trick relies on a phenomenon discovered by the American
mathematician, physicist, and amateur magician, Martin David Kruskal
(1925 to 2006), known as the Kruskal count: Although your starting point
within the text, and the volunteer's starting point within the text, are
different – your end points are extremely likely to be the same. This is
because you are both stepping through a long piece of text a few words at a
time – and at some point in the text, just by chance, you are almost certain
to step on the same word – from that point onwards you will remain
synchronized with each other for the rest of the text.
2. Perhaps the most famous demonstration of the Kruskal count, was

published by the popular math and science writer, Martin Gardner (1914 to
2010) who used the introductory sentence of the US Declaration of
Independence. He divided the sentence into 3 sections (beginning, middle,
end), and discovered that choosing any word in the beginning section and
following the letter counting procedure, always led to God in the end
section.
One-Sided Paper
Equipment Required:
Colored Pens
Paper
Sticky Tape or Glue Stick

You take out a strip of paper, draw a red X on one-side, turn the paper over,
and then draw a blue X on the reverse side.
You then ask the audience whether it is possible to draw a continuous line
from the red X to the blue X without taking the pen off the paper (drawing
on the thin edge of the paper is not allowed). You can pass the paper
around the audience, and ask people to examine the paper for themselves.
Everyone should agree that it is not possible.
You then stick the paper together into a loop, put the pen on the red X, and
carefully move then pen around the paper until you reach the blue X. You
do not need to take the pen off the paper to do this – because now the paper
has only one side!

1. The secret behind the trick is in how you stick the paper together.
Step 1: Use a rectangular strip of paper – it should be at least five or six
times as long as it is wide.
Step 2: Normally when making a loop of paper, you would expect to stick
point A to point C, and point B to point D. However for this trick, you
must insert a half-twist in the paper – as a result, point A will be stuck to
point D, and point B to point C.
2. There is no deception involved, just an amazing bit of mathematics – the

paper hoop really does only have one side after being stuck together in this
way. Enjoy the audience's amazement, revel in their admiration, and bask
in the adoration that being a math-magician brings!

1. The reason that this trick works, is that you genuinely do create a hoop
that only has one side – this is an example of a Möbius strip (also known
as a "Möbius band") – a surface which contains only one side and only one
edge (trying running your finger along the thin edge of the band, and you
will find that you reach every part of it without taking your finger off the
paper).
The Möbius strip, and its curious properties, has been of great interest to
mathematicians since it was first discovered in the 19th century. Two
German mathematicians, August Ferdinand Möbius (17 September 1790 to
26 September 1868) and Johann Benedict Listing (25 July 1808 to 24
December 1882) independently discovered the strip, both during the same
year, 1858!
August Ferdinand Möbius:

Escape through the Paper
Equipment Required:
Scissors
Large sheet of paper (such as a sheet from a newspaper)

You show the audience a large sheet of paper and then ask whether it is
possible to cut a hole in the paper big enough for you to step through.
After the audience says no, you fold and cut the paper, and then step
through it.

1. The trick is in how you fold and cut the paper.
Step 1: Take a large sheet of paper.

Step 2: Fold the paper in half along the longest side:
to get
Step 3: Carefully make a series of parallel cuts in the paper from the folded
edge towards (but not quite reaching) the opposite edge. The exact number
of cuts that you make is not important, but you should be aware that the
narrower that you make the strips the larger the "hole" that you will have
with at the end of the trick (although the paper will become more flimsy).
After you have made the cuts, your paper should now look something like
this (cuts are shown as red lines):
Step 4: Carefully make another series of parallel cuts in the paper from the
opposite edge towards (but not quite reaching) the folded edge. One of
these cuts should go in between each pair of cuts made in the other
direction.
After you have made these cuts, your paper should now look something like
this (cuts are shown as red lines):
2. After you have made these cuts, you can carefully open out the paper
without tearing. As long as you have made the strips sufficiently narrow,
the paper will now contain a hole big enough to step through! Enjoy the
audience's amazement, revel in their admiration, and bask in the adoration
that being a math-magician brings!
I Know Your Card
Equipment Required:
Standard deck of playing cards (remove the Jokers before performing the
trick)

You take a deck of playing cards, and spread them out face-up on the table
in a line to show that they are a normal pack of cards.
You then pick-up the cards, and spread the cards face-down on the table in a
line.
You move your finger slowly above the line of cards, and ask a volunteer to
say "Stop!" at a time of their choice. When they do so, you bring your
finger down on a card.
You ask the volunteer to slide out the indicated card, peek at it and
memorize it, without showing you, while you pick up the rest of the cards.
You then allow the volunteer to slide their card back into the deck at a place
of their choosing, pick up the deck, and shuffle the cards thoroughly.
Now you spread the cards out in a line a second time, this time face-up, and
correctly identify the volunteer's card. You can claim to do this using
psychic powers, ESP, or being able to see the volunteer's fingerprints on the
card.
1. Before you start you sort out the following 22 cards from the rest of the
deck:
Clubs: Ace, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Diamonds: 7
Hearts: Ace, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Spades: Ace, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
2. Make sure the 22 cards are all orientated the same way round – that is
with most of the suit symbols (clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades) all pointing
in the same upward direction.
3. Shuffle the 22 cards, and place them on top of the rest of the deck.
4. When moving your finger over the cards, move over the lower part of
the deck quickly, and make sure that when the visitor stops your finger will
be over one of the top 22 cards.
5. When your visitor is looking at and memorizing his card, you pick up
the rest of the deck. Turn the deck round in your hand, so when the visitor
inserts his card back into the deck, the suit symbols on his card will
pointing in the opposite direction to the other cards. Of course, the
spectators won't know the trick is that easy, so enjoy the audience's
6. When you identify the volunteer's card at the end of the trick, you simply
look for the card which has suit symbols facing the other way from the rest
of the pack.

1. There are 52 cards in a standard deck:
30 of the cards have rotational symmetry of order 2 – that is to say
that if you rotate them 180°, they look exactly the same as before the
rotation.
22 of the cards have rotational symmetry of order 1 – that is to say
that if you rotate them in any way other than a full 360° rotation, they
will always look different.
2. The trick is set-up so that the volunteer will always choose one of the 22
cards which has rotational symmetry of order 1, and thus you will be able to
tell when it is upside-down relative to rest of the deck (which it will be if
you rotate the rest of the deck).
The Last Card
Note: For a trick based on a similar idea, but using ordinary text, see
The Last Word.
Equipment Required:
Pen
Paper
trick) – you can also mix together two decks (both without jokers) – see
comments below.

You ask a volunteer to shuffle the playing cards, and then lay the playing
cards out, one by one in a long line of face-up cards that do not overlap
each other.
You look at the cards thoughtfully for a few moments and then secretly
write down something on the paper.
You ask the volunteer to choose a number between 1 and 10, and count that
many cards from the beginning of the line to find the corresponding card.
The face-value of that card becomes the volunteer's new number (the
picture cards, namely Jacks, Queens, and Kings, are considered to have a
face-value of 5 for the purposes of this trick). The volunteer then counts
that number of cards forward, to find a second new card, and so on. The
volunteer should keep repeating this process until they eventually reach the
end of the line of cards – the final card reached just before the end is their
last card.
Alternative Version: Instead of using the face-values of the cards, you

can use the number of letters in the card's name, so a Three of Spades
would count as a 5 (since the word "Three" contains 5 letters), and the
Jack of Hearts would count as a 4 (since the word "Jack" contains 4
letters).
When the volunteer reaches the end of the line, you then reveal what is
written on the paper: you have correctly predicted the identity of the last
card!

1. When the volunteer is laying out the cards, you start counting along the
line of cards using the exact same procedure that you will ask the volunteer
will use. You can start from any one of the first 10 cards – although
starting from the 7th card is probably be best, as this is generally most
common starting point chosen by volunteers.
2. The fact that you may not start from the same place as the volunteer does
not matter – because regardless of where you start from, it is extremely
likely that you have the same final card as the volunteer:
Using 1 deck with face-values (picture cards being assigned a face-
value of 5), the chance of success is approximately 85%
Using 1 decks and spelling card names, the chance of success is
approximately of 95%
Using 2 decks with face-values (picture cards being assigned a face-
value of 5), the chance of success is approximately 98%
Using 2 decks and spelling card names, the chance of success is in
excess of 99%


1. Like our earlier trick, The Last Word, this trick relies on Kruskal counts
– and it is these that ensure that you and the volunteer will most likely end
on the same last card.
2. The reason that you and the volunteer most likely will end on the same
last card, is that you are both stepping forward through the deck a few cards
at a time. Sooner or later, just by chance, you are almost certain to step on
the same card – from that point onwards you will remain synchronized with
each other for the rest of the deck of cards.
Three Hidden Cards
Equipment Required:
trick)
Pen
Paper

You shuffle the pack, and ask a volunteer to choose three cards from the
pack without showing you what they are. The volunteer should then write
down the identity of his three cards on a piece of a paper, again without
showing you, and place the paper face-down.
You deal out a small pile of cards also face-down. You ask the volunteer to
shuffle this pile and then put one of his three chosen cards on top of this
first pile.
You now deal out a second small pile of cards face-down. You ask the
volunteer to shuffle this second pile, and then pick-up and move as many
cards as he wants from the top of this second pile to the top of the first
pile. After he has done that, you ask the volunteer to place the second of
his three chosen cards on top of the second pile.
You deal out a third small pile of cards face-down. You ask the volunteer to
shuffle this third pile, and then pick-up and move as many cards as he wants
from the top of this third pile to the top of the second pile. After he has
done that, you ask the volunteer to place the third of his three chosen cards
on top of the third pile.
You then deal out the remaining cards into a fourth small pile of cards face-
down. You ask the volunteer to shuffle this fourth pile, and then pick-up
and move as many cards as he wants from the top of the fourth pile to the
top of the third pile.
You then pick-up all four piles of cards and combine them into one stack of
cards.
You carefully look at the first card in the stack, look at the volunteer, look
back at the card with apparent intense concentration on your face, and then
say, "My psychic powers tell me that this isn't your card, so I will discard
this card". You then remove the top card and place it away from the others.
Looking at the next card, you then say "Hmmm, maybe. I'm not too sure
about this card, the signals are fuzzy, so I'll save it for later and move it at
the back of the deck" – and then do so.
You then repeat the process – discard the third card, put the fourth card to
the back of the deck, discard the fifth card, put the sixth card to the back of
the pack, and so on.
It will take a while, but eventually you will end-up with only 3 cards. You
then say "I guess these must be your cards". Turn the cards and the
volunteer's paper over – and, of course, the cards match.

1. It is very important that you use a full deck of 52 cards.
2. After the volunteer has chosen three cards (and the volunteer may really
select any three cards that he likes), there will be 49 cards left, which will
be divided into the four piles.
3. You must also ensure that each of the four piles has the right number of
cards (secretly count in your head while dealing out each pile).
You must deal out 12 cards into the first pile
You must deal out 15 cards into the second pile
You must deal out 15 cards into the third pile
You must deal out 7 cards (that is all remaining cards) into the fourth
pile
4. When you pick-up all four piles of cards, you must ensure that the fourth
pile is on the top, the third pile is under that, the second under that, and the
first pile is at the bottom.
5. Provided that you ensure each pile has the right number of cards, and
follow the procedures described above, the final three cards will always be
the volunteer's three cards.


1. The trick is set-up so that volunteer's cards will always appear at known
positions in the deck. This is possible because each pile has a known
number of cards, the piles and volunteer's cards are assembled in a known
order, and the process of shuffling piles and moving cards between the piles
does not affect the position of the volunteer's cards within the deck.
Before you turn the entire stack of cards over (when the cards are all face-
down in one pile), the order of cards, starting from the bottom is:
12 cards from the first pile (the order of these 12 cards is affected by
the volunteer's shuffling)
The volunteer's first card
15 cards from the second pile (the order of these cards is affected by
the volunteer's shuffling and moving cards between piles)
The volunteer's second card
15 cards from the third pile (the order of these cards is affected by the
volunteer's shuffling and moving cards between piles)
The volunteer's third card
7 cards from the fourth pile (the order of these cards is affected by the
volunteer's shuffling and moving cards between piles)
If you count from the top of the deck, you will see that the volunteer's cards
are always placed 8th, 24th and 40th from the top.
2. The process used for discarding cards always results in the last three
remaining cards being those that began as the 8th, 24th and 40th from the
top.
This is easy to demonstrate.
Imagine a deck of cards, where the bottom card is numbered 52, the second
from bottom card is numbered 51, and so on, until you reach the top card,
which is numbered 1. This is how such a deck would look from bottom to
top:
52 51 50 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31
30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8
7654321
You then discard the top card (card 1), and put the second card (card 2) at
the bottom of the deck, giving you this ordering:
2 52 51 50 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31
30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8
76543
If you continue this process of discarding and rearranging, by the time you
have been through the entire deck once, you would have this ordering:
52 50 48 46 44 42 40 38 36 34 32 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8
642
You would then begin the second pass through the deck, by discarding the
top card (card 2), and putting the second (card 4) to the back of the deck,
giving this order:
4 52 50 48 46 44 42 40 38 36 34 32 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10
86
After your second pass through the entire deck, these cards would remain:
52 48 44 40 36 32 28 24 20 16 12 8 4
You would then make a third pass through the deck, again beginning by
discarding the top card (card 4), and putting the second card (card 8) to the
back of the deck and so on. After your third pass, these cards would
remain:
48 40 32 24 16 8
At this point, you would be about to make your final pass through the deck,
but you would have just discarded card 52 to get to this situation. Just
continuing the sequence of alternating discards and placing cards at the
back of the deck, would mean that this pass would begin with putting the
top card (card 8) to the back of the deck, discarding the second card (card
16), and so on.
So after a fourth pass through the deck, only these cards would remain:
40 24 8
And, of course, the pack has been deliberately arranged so that the
volunteer's cards are those that began as the 8th, 24th and 40th from the top.
Lucky Eleven
Note: For a similar but more advanced trick, see Favorite

Number/Favorite Card.
Equipment Required:
trick)

You begin by telling the audience that it has scientifically proven that
numbers ending with a 1 are lucky, and that 11 and 21 are the two luckiest
numbers of all. You invite a volunteer from the audience to come on the
stage.
You hand the volunteer the deck of playing cards, ask them to shuffle, and
then reminding them that 21 is lucky, ask the volunteer to deal out any 21
cards on the table face-up (the other cards will not be used in this trick, and
can be put to one side).
The volunteer now has to mentally choose one of the cards on the table, and
write its identity down on the paper. They should place the paper, writing
side down, on the table after doing so.
You pick up the cards and deal them out, one at a time, left to right, into
three equal face-up piles. After doing so, you ask the volunteer to indicate
which of the piles that their card is in, but without revealing the identity of
their card.
You then repeat this process two more times.
After picking up the cards for the third time, you deal out the cards face-
down counting aloud as you go, until you reach the eleventh card. Then
you remind the audience that is 11 is a lucky number. You then deal the
eleventh card face-up – and then you turn over the paper revealing that the
eleventh card matches the volunteer's choice.

1. Each time after dealing out three piles, take notice which of the three
piles that the volunteer indicates, and when you pick up the piles, make sure
that the indicated pile is placed in the middle of the other two piles.


1. This trick relies on two things:
When you deal the cards left to right into piles, but then pick-up the
piles of cards, you are reordering the cards in the deck.
The order is predictable – and by dealing and picking the piles three
times, with the volunteer's pile in the middle each time, this "sorts"
the cards so that the volunteer's card ends up in the middle (eleventh)
position among the twenty-one cards.
Favorite Number/Favorite Card
Note: For a similar but simpler trick, see Lucky Eleven.
Equipment Required:
trick)
Pen
Paper

You invite a volunteer from the audience to come on the stage.
You hand the volunteer the deck of playing cards, ask them to shuffle, and
then deal out any 27 cards on the table face-up (the other cards will not be
used in this trick, and can be put to one side).
The volunteer now has to mentally choose one of the cards on the table, and
write its identity down on the paper. They should place the paper, writing
side down, on the table after doing so.
Next you ask the volunteer to choose a number between 1 and 27

(inclusive), and then to write this number down on the face-up side of the
paper.
You pick up the cards and deal them out, one at a time, left to right, into
three equal face-up piles. After doing so, you ask the volunteer to indicate
which of the piles that their card is in, but without revealing the identity of
their card.
You then repeat this process two more times.
After picking up the cards for the third time, you deal out the cards face-
down counting aloud as you go, until you reach the volunteer's number.
That card, the one corresponding to the volunteer's number, you deal face-
up – and then you turn over the paper revealing that the card matches the
volunteer's choice.

1. When the volunteer tells you their number, you work out how to
compose it by adding together some combination of 1, 2, 3, 6, 9 and 18
(you may use each number once or not at all). For example:
If the volunteer's number was 7, you would compose the number by
doing 1 + 6
If the volunteer's number was 17, you would compose the number by
doing 2 + 6 + 9
If the volunteer's number was 20, you would compose number by
doing 2 + 18
2. To make the volunteer's chosen card appear at the appropriate place in

the deck, all you have to do is pick-up the three piles in an order which
collectively composes the volunteer's number:
The first time that you deal out the three piles, you put 0, 1 or 2 towards
composing the volunteer's number:
If you do not need a 1 or a 2 to compose the volunteer's number, then
when you pick-up the three piles, you make sure that the volunteer's
selected pile is the top one.
If you need a 1 to compose the volunteer's number, then when you
pick-up the three piles, you make sure that the volunteer's selected
pile is the middle one.
pile is the bottom one.
For the second set of three piles, you put 0, 3 or 6 towards composing the
volunteer's number:
If you do not need a 3 or a 6 to compose the volunteer's number, then
when you pick-up the three piles, you make sure that the volunteer's
selected pile is the top one.
For third set of three piles, you put 0, 9 or 18 towards composing the
volunteer's number:
If you do not need a 9 or a 18 to compose the volunteer's number,
then when you pick-up the three piles, you make sure that the
volunteer's selected pile is the top one.
3. Follow the steps correctly, and this trick practically works itself! After
completing the trick, enjoy the audience's amazement, revel in their

1. This trick relies on two things:
When you deal the cards left to right into piles, but then pick-up the
piles of cards, you are reordering the cards in the deck.
The order is predictable – and depends on the order in which you
pick-up the piles.
2. You can do your own experiment with playing cards, to see how
successive rearrangements affect the order of the cards, but the trick is
essentially based on converting the volunteer's number into the ternary
(base three) number system – since there are three piles.
The ternary (base three) number system can represent the same
numbers as base ten can – it just does so differently. In the ternary
powers of three (units, 3s, 9s, 27s, etc.), and each column can only
contain a digit from 0 to 2 (one less than three).
The first set of piles corresponds to the units digit in base 3. The second set
of piles corresponds to placing a 0, 1 or 2 into the 3s column in base 3
(since 1 × 3 = 3 and 2 × 3 = 6). And the third set of piles corresponds to
place a 0, 1 or 2 into the 9s column in base 3 (since 1 × 9 = 9 and 2 × 9 =
18).
Card Tour
Note: For a similar but more advanced trick, see Card Tour
(Advanced).
Equipment Required:
trick)
Pen
Paper

You shuffle the deck of cards and then deal out a checkerboard pattern of
face-up cards. When laying out the checkerboard, you must ensure that
there is a card in each corner of the checkerboard):
You ask the volunteer to secretly choose one of the face up cards, and write
down its identity (for example: "Three of Clubs") on the paper.
You deal out additional face-up cards into the gaps within checkerboard
pattern, resulting in a 5 X 5 grid of face-up cards:
You then explain the volunteer that you are going to play a game – you will
read the volunteer's mind using ESP, and hence find his card – but to make
it more difficult, you are going to allow the volunteer to change cards: the
volunteer can change cards by moving from their current card to an
adjacent face-up card left, right, up or down (not diagonally).
The volunteer goes first and secretly switches card according to these rules.
He then secretly writes the identity of his new card on his paper.
After a moment you say that you have read the volunteer's mind and
identified his card. To prove it, you turn-over some cards that are not the
volunteer's chosen card. After doing so, the cards might look like this
(face-down cards shown in blue):
You then repeat the process a few times – each time the volunteer changes
the identity of his chosen card by moving to an adjacent (left, right, up or
down) face-up card, and then you turning over some cards.
Eventually only one face-up card will be left – you ask the volunteer to turn
the paper over – and of course it will match the volunteer's card.

1. Any card in the grid of cards can be identified using a pair of coordinates
– a horizontal coordinate (known to mathematicians as the x-coordinate),
and a vertical coordinate (known to mathematicians as the y-coordinate).
For example the top-left square (indicated by the green arrow) in this grid
would have coordinates ( 1, 5 ):
2. The first time that you remove some cards, make sure you only remove
cards for which the coordinates add up to an even number. For example,
you could remove ( 1, 5 ), because 1 + 5 = 6 and 6 is even – but you should
not remove ( 2, 3 ), because 2 + 3 = 5 and 5 is odd.
3. The next time that you remove some cards, make sure you only remove
cards for which the coordinates add up to an odd number. For example, you
could remove ( 1, 4 ), because 1 + 4 = 5 and 5 is odd – but you should not
remove ( 1, 3 ), because 1 + 3 = 4 and 4 is even.
4. All you have to do is alternate between removing "even" and "odd"

cards, until there is only 1 card left – that card is the volunteer's card.
5. Important: There is one precaution that you must take – make sure your
removals never split the remaining cards into two (or more) groups – there
must always be a continuous path of horizontal and/or vertical cards
connecting all remaining cards together – until you only have one card left.
This precaution is necessary, because otherwise the volunteer might get
stuck on an isolated card on his turn and be unable to switch card.
Tip: The easiest way to avoid the isolated card problem arising is to
remove even/odd cards around the edges of the block of remaining
cards.

1. When the volunteer starts the game, he starts on an "even" card. For his
first move, he must move to an adjacent "odd" card. Hence you can then
safely remove "even" cards, knowing that these can not be the volunteer's
card.
2. In the second turn the volunteer will begin on an "odd" card, and must
move to an adjacent "even" card. Hence you can respond by removing
"odd" cards, knowing that these can not be the volunteer's card.
3. In each turn the volunteer will switch between "odd" and "even" cards,
and hence you can always safely remove the opposite type of card.
Card Tour (Advanced)
Note: For a similar but simpler trick, see Card Tour.
Equipment Required:
trick)
Pen
Paper

You shuffle the deck of cards and then deal out a checkerboard pattern of
face-up cards. When laying out the checkerboard, you must ensure that
there is a card in each corner of the checkerboard):
You ask the volunteer to secretly choose one of the face up cards, and write
down its identity (for example: "Three of Clubs") on the paper.
You deal out additional face-up cards into the gaps within checkerboard
pattern, resulting in a 7 X 7 grid of face-up cards:
You then explain the volunteer that you are going to play a game – you will
read the volunteer's mind using ESP, and hence find his card – but to make
it more difficult, you are going to allow the volunteer to change cards: the
volunteer can change cards by moving from their current card to an
adjacent face-up card left, right, up or down (not diagonally).
The volunteer goes first and secretly switches card according to these rules.
He then secretly writes the identity of his new card on his paper.
After a moment you say that you have read the volunteer's mind and
identified his card. To prove it, you turn-over some cards that are not the
volunteer's chosen card. After doing so, the cards might look like this
(face-down cards shown in blue):
You then repeat the process a few times – each time the volunteer changes
the identity of his chosen card by moving to an adjacent (left, right, up or
down) face-up card, and then you turning over some cards.
Eventually only one face-up card will be left – you ask the volunteer to turn
the paper over – and of course it will match the volunteer's card.

1. Any card in the grid of cards can be identified using a pair of coordinates
– a horizontal coordinate (known to mathematicians as the x-coordinate),
and a vertical coordinate (known to mathematicians as the y-coordinate).
For example the top-left square (indicated by the green arrow) in this grid
would have coordinates ( 1, 7 ):
2. The first time that you remove some cards, make sure you only remove
cards for which the coordinates add up to an even number. For example,
you could remove ( 1, 7 ), because 1 + 7 = 8 and 8 is even – but you should
not remove ( 2, 7 ), because 2 + 7 = 9 and 9 is odd.
3. The next time that you remove some cards, make sure you only remove
cards for which the coordinates add up to an odd number. For example, you
could remove ( 1, 6 ), because 1 + 6 = 7 and 7 is odd – but you should not
remove ( 1, 5 ), because 1 + 5 = 6 and 6 is even.
4. All you have to do is alternate between removing "even" and "odd"

cards, until there is only 1 card left – that card is the volunteer's card.
5. Important: There is one precaution that you must take – make sure your
removals never split the remaining cards into two (or more) groups – there
must always be a continuous path of horizontal and/or vertical cards
connecting all remaining cards together – until you only have one card left.
This precaution is necessary, because otherwise the volunteer might get
stuck on an isolated card on his turn and be unable to switch card.
Tip: The easiest way to avoid the isolated card problem arising is to
remove even/odd cards around the edges of the block of remaining
cards.

1. When the volunteer starts the game, he starts on an "even" card. For his
first move, he must move to an adjacent "odd" card. Hence you can then
safely remove "even" cards, knowing that these can not be the volunteer's
card.
2. In the second turn the volunteer will begin on an "odd" card, and must
move to an adjacent "even" card. Hence you can respond by removing
"odd" cards, knowing that these can not be the volunteer's card.
3. In each turn the volunteer will switch between "odd" and "even" cards,
and hence you can always safely remove the opposite type of card.
Card Telepathy (Telephone Stud)
This is a very famous card trick that goes under various names,
including "telephone stud" (because the trick can even be performed
over the telephone), and which has also been described as "the best
card trick" by several authors. The trick was originally devised by a
mathematics professor, William Fitch Cheney Jr. (1894 to 1974), who is
also known for being the first person to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics
from MIT in 1927.
Equipment Required:
trick)
An assistant – note: the assistant will be required to memorize quite a
complex code, so you need to find somebody who is willing to do that!

You hand the volunteer the deck of playing cards. You explain to the
volunteer that you will leave the room in a moment, and that after you are
gone, they should choose any five playing cards they like from the deck.
They can shuffle the deck as much as they want, and use any criteria that
they like to choose these five cards.
After you leave the room, the volunteer chooses the five playing cards,
optionally shows them to the audience, and then hands them to your
assistant.
Your assistant places the five cards on the table – four of them face-down –
and one of them face-up.
You are called back into the room by a member of the audience (the
assistant can then sit behind the screen, or even leave the room via a
separate door, if you like).
You look briefly at the cards on the table, concentrate for a moment
(claiming to be receiving a telepathic transmission from your assistant), and
then announce the identity of the face-down card. You ask the volunteer to
turn over the card – and of course you are correct!

1. The trick relies on a code (that both you and your assistant must
memorize) in order to communicate the identity of the face-down card. The
code is transmitted by the order of the face-up cards, and is explained
below.
2. This is a truly stunning trick, so when you correctly identify the face-
down card, apparently with the help of telepathy, you will be able to enjoy
the audience's amazement, revel in their admiration, and bask in the
adoration that being a math-magician brings!

1. As already mentioned, this trick relies on a secret code, hidden within
the face-up cards, which is used to communicate the identity of the hidden
card. The code relies on several different mathematical concepts.
2. The pigeonhole principle is a mathematical idea that states that if you

were to put m items into n containers, and m is greater than n, then at least
one container will necessarily contain more than 1 item. In this trick, this
principle applies because volunteer picks 5 cards, but there are only 4 suits
(Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades), and therefore it is certain that there
will be at least 2 cards from the same suit.
Your assistant takes advantage of this principle to communicate to you (the

magician), the suit of the hidden card – he selects 2 cards of the same suit
from the 5 cards – one of these will be the hidden face-down card, and the
other will be placed next to it – and thus your assistant communicates to
you the suit of the hidden card.
As explained below, some care is needed in choosing which card to put

face-down, and which card to place next to it.
3. In modular arithmetic, you imagine a group of whole numbers

arranged in a circle (usually 0 is given as the start of the circle), and when
you get to the end of the circle, the numbers wrap round. In other words,
when you reach a certain value (known as the "modulus"), you do not keep
counting, but instead go back to 0. For example, if you were working
modulo 7, the numbers would go 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and then wrap back
round to 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, again – and each time you went past 6, you
would find ourselves starting at 0 again.
You can even do arithmetic operations in modular arithmetic. For example,

if working modulo 7, then:
4 + 1 would still add up to 5,
4 + 2 would still add up to 6,
But 4 + 3 would not be 7, but instead would be 0,
And 4 + 4 would not be 8, but instead would be 1,
And 4 + 5 would not be 9, but instead would be 2,
...and so on
You can apply the concepts of modular arithmetic to the playing cards in
any chosen suit. You (and your assistant) start by imagining the cards
arranged in a circle as shown:
You move between cards by counting clockwise. For example, if the two
cards of interest were the Three of Hearts and the Eight of Hearts, then 5
steps would be required to move between them:
The choice of starting card is very important. Starting at the Eight of
Hearts, and counting around the circle from there to the Three of Hearts,
requires more steps (8 steps):
Let's try another example that illustrates this same point. Imagine that the
two cards of interest are the Three of Hearts and the Jack of Hearts. In this
case, counting from the Three of Hearts to the Jack of Hearts requires 8
steps:
However, starting instead at the Jack of Hearts and counting around the
circle to the Three of Hearts, requires only 5 steps:
After a bit of thought, it should become apparent that it is always possible
move from one card in a suit to another card in the same suit in a
maximum of 6 clockwise steps – provided that there is a choice of which
card to start from.
So, combining with what we have already discussed about using a face-up
card to communicate the suit of the face-down card – if you and your
assistant could find a way to communicate a number (the modular
arithmetic distance from the face-up card to the face-down card), then the
identity of the face-down card would be revealed. Moreover, if your
assistant carefully chooses which card to place face-up and which card to
place face-down, he could ensure that this number only needs to be in the
range of 1 to 6.
For example, if the two cards of the same suit were the Three of Hearts, and
the Jack of Hearts, then your assistant could place the Three of Hearts face-
down, and the Jack of Hearts face-up, and need to find some way to
communicate the number 5 – to indicate that the face-down card was 5
clockwise steps above the Jack of Hearts.
Likewise, if the two cards of the same suit were the Seven of Spades and
the Nine of Spades, then your assistant would place the Nine of Spades
face-down, the Seven of Spaces face-up, and need to find a way to
communicate the number 2 – to indicate that the face-down card was 2
clockwise steps above the Seven of Spades.
4. You have probably guessed by now that a number in the range 1 to 6 is

encoded in the placement of the remaining face-up cards.
First you need a ranking system for all cards in the deck – you can use any
ranking system you like – but here is the system that I use:
I rank the suits in order alphabetically – starting with Clubs (lowest),
then Diamonds, then Hearts, and finally Spades (highest).
Then, within each suit, I rank the cards – going up through the
number cards (starting with the Two) in numerical order, followed by
the picture cards in the order Jack, Queen, King, Ace.
Here are some examples of how my ranking system would apply:

Five of Clubs would be lower than the Seven of Clubs (because they
have the same suit, but Five is lower in value than Seven)
Five of Clubs would be lower than the Five of Hearts (because Clubs
is lower than Hearts)
Seven of Clubs would be lower than Five of Hearts (because Clubs is
lower than Hearts, and the suits takes priority over the number/picture
on the card)
Whatever ranking system you use (whether it is my system, or another one),
the result is that any three cards can be ordered into a lowest value card, a
middle value card, and a highest value card.
The lowest, middle, and highest cards can be placed in a line – and the
order in which they appear in that line can be varied. There are in fact six
permutations in which they can be arranged – and each of these
permutations can be used to represent a different number.
Here's the system I use:

Highest-Middle-Lowest is used to represent 1
Highest-Lowest-Middle is used to represent 2
Middle-Highest-Lowest is used to represent 3
Middle-Lowest-Highest is used to represent 4
Lowest-Highest-Middle is used to represent 5
Lowest-Middle-Highest is used to represent 6
5. Putting this all together, using four face-up cards, we now have a way to
communicate the identity of a face down card – its suit, and how far (1 to 6)
that we have to count around a card circle from a known card in the same
suit.
Let's try some examples:
(a) Let's suppose that the five chosen cards were: Six of Hearts, Queen of
Spades, Four of Clubs, Nine of Clubs, and Three of Diamonds.
The two cards of the same suit are the Four of Clubs and the Nine of
Clubs, so one of these will serve as the face-down card, and the other
card will be placed face-up adjacent to it.
Counting around the card circle from the Four of Clubs to the Nine of
Clubs requires 5 steps (whereas counting around from the Nine to the
Four requires 8 steps). Therefore the Nine of Clubs will be placed
face-down, and the Four of Clubs will be placed face-up next to it.
The three remaining cards need to communicate the number 5, so
need to be placed face-up in the order Lowest-Highest-Middle – that
is the Three of Diamonds, then the Queen of Spades, and finally the
Six of Hearts.
(b) Imagine that the five chosen cards were: Queen of Clubs, Three of
Diamonds, Queen of Diamonds, Six of Hearts, and Ten of Hearts.
In this example, there are two pairs of cards of the same suit (one pair
is the Three of Diamonds and the Queen of Diamonds, and the other
pair is the Six of Hearts and the Ten of Hearts) – so your assistant can
choose which pair to use. Let's say that he chose the Three of
Diamonds and the Queen of Diamonds – so one of these will serve as
the face-down card.
Counting around the card circle from the Queen of Diamonds to the
Three of Diamonds requires 4 steps (whereas counting around from
the Three to the Queen requires 9 steps). Therefore the Three of
Diamonds will be placed face-down, and the Queen of Diamonds will
be placed face-up next to it.
need to be placed face-up in the order Middle-Lowest-Highest – that
is the Six of Hearts, then the Queen of Clubs, and finally the Ten of
Hearts.
(c) Imagine that the five chosen cards were: Four of Spades, Six of Spades,
Jack of Spades, Two of Hearts, and Seven of Diamonds.
In this example, there are three cards of the same suit (the Four of
Spades, the Six of Spades, and the Jack of Spades) – so your assistant
can choose any two of the three as the pair to use. Let's say that he
chose the Four of Spades and the Jack of Spades – so one of these
will serve as the face-down card.
Counting around the card circle from the Jack of Spades to the Four
of Spades requires 6 steps (whereas counting around from the Four to
the Jack requires 7 steps). Therefore the Four of Spades will be
placed face-down, and the Jack of Spades will be placed face-up next
to it.
need to be placed face-up in the order Lowest-Middle-Highest – that
is Seven of Diamonds, then the Two of Hearts, and finally the Six of
Spades.
Magic Squares
Note: For a similar but more advanced trick, see Magic Squares
(Advanced).
Equipment Required:
Pen
Paper
Calculator (optional)
Magic Squares – Either printed, or you can draw your own magic square on
a whiteboard or blackboard. Each magic square is simply a grid with equal
numbers of rows and columns, and the whole numbers, starting from 1,
filled-in from left to right and top to bottom, starting from the top left
square.
Here are some examples of magic squares of different sizes:

versions of all these magic squares (and more) from

You show the audience a magic square (or if you have a

blackboard/whiteboard, you can draw one).
You select a member of the audience at random. You ask that member of
the audience to choose any one of the numbers on the magic square. You
circle the chosen number. Your magic square will now look something like
this:
You cross out all the other numbers which are in the same row or column as
the chosen number. Your magic square will now look something like this:
You then ask an audience member (it can be a different person from the
previous time) to choose another number on the magic square – they must
choose a number which is still available – that is to say a number which has
not been circled, and has not been crossed out. Again you circle the
audience member's chosen number, and cross out all the other numbers that
are in the same row or column as the chosen number. Your magic square
will now look something like this:
You repeat this process of asking audience members to choose any available
number, and crossing out the other numbers in the same row or column,
until every number has been used or eliminated (the last audience member
will only have one number to choose from!). Eventually your magic square
will look something like this:
You ask a volunteer from the audience to add up all the circled numbers
(you can provide him with a calculator if you wish). When the volunteer
announces the answer, you turn over the paper and show that you predicted
the answer before the trick began!

1. The number that you write on the paper depends on the size of magic
square – for a particular size magic square of this type, the final answer is
always the same:
For a 3 X 3 magic square, the total is always 15
Tip: This trick is most effective if you use a relatively large magic
square and let multiple audience members select numbers on the magic
square.


1. The reason the trick works is that the final total sum will always match
the sum of numbers along the main diagonal of the magic square (both main
diagonals will add to the same number).
2. The proof that this will always be the case involves several steps:
(i) The rule about crossing out all numbers in the same row or column as a
chosen number ensures that the set of all cells chosen at the end of the trick
must always be in different rows and columns from each other.
(ii) Since you keep going until all the numbers (and therefore all the cells)
are chosen or eliminated, you always end with a magic square containing
exactly one chosen cell in every column, and exactly one chosen cell in
every row.
(iii) There are many ways that the chosen cells could be arranged within the
magic square, but one possible configuration is with chosen cells placed
along the main diagonal of the magic square. You could obviously
calculate the final total for this configuration by adding up all the numbers
in those squares – that is the sum of the numbers along the main diagonal of
the magic square.
(iv) If you start from the diagonal configuration, it is possible to reach any
other permissible configuration by moving the positions of the chosen cells
around – however this would have no effect on the final total made when
adding the numbers in the chosen cells:
If you want to move the position of a chosen cell left or right, you can only
do so by exchanging the column positions of two chosen cells (otherwise
you would end-up with a column containing more than one chosen cell).
If you move the position of one chosen cell x columns to the left (and
hence subtract x from the total sum of the numbers in the chosen
cells), you must also move the position of another chosen cell x
columns to the right (and hence add x to the total sum of the numbers
in the chosen cells). Subtracting and then adding the same number
results in no overall change in the total sum of the numbers.
Likewise, if you move the position of one chosen cell x columns to
the right (and hence add x to the total sum of the numbers in the
chosen cells), you must also move the position of another chosen cell
x columns to the left (and hence subtract x from the total sum of the
numbers in the chosen cells). Adding and subtracting the same
number results in no overall change in the total sum of the numbers.
If you want to move the position of a chosen cell up or down, you can only
do so by exchanging the row positions of two chosen cells (otherwise you
would end-up with a row containing more than one chosen cell).
If you move the position of one chosen cell y rows upwards (and
hence subtract ( y × grid_size ) from the total sum of the numbers in
the chosen cells), you must also move the position of another chosen
cell y rows downwards (and hence add ( y × grid_size ) to the total
sum of the numbers in the chosen cells). Subtracting and then adding
the same number results in no overall change in the total sum of the
numbers. (Note: grid_size refers to number of rows/columns in the
magic square).
Likewise, if you move the position of one chosen cell y rows
downwards (and hence add ( y × grid_size ) to the total sum of the
numbers in the chosen cells), you must also move the position of
another chosen cell y rows to upwards (and hence subtract ( y ×
grid_size ) from the total sum of the numbers in the chosen cells).
Adding and subtracting the same number results in no overall change
in the total sum of the numbers. (Again, grid_size refers to number of
rows/columns in the magic square).
Starting from a diagonal configuration of chosen cells, and then using a

sequence of multiple moves – exchanging the column positions of chosen
cells, and/or exchanging row positions of chosen cells – you can reach any
permissible configuration of chosen cells. However every exchange in the
sequence has no effect on the total sum of the all chosen cells. The total is
always therefore always the same as the starting the total – the sum of the
numbers along the main diagonal.
Magic Squares (Advanced)
Note: For a similar but simpler trick, see Magic Squares.
Equipment Required:
Pen
Paper
Blank Magic Squares – A grid of squares with an equal number of rows and
columns. I recommend doing this trick with a 5 X 5 magic square for
reasons that will be explained shortly.
Here are some examples of blank magic squares of different sizes:

versions of all these blank magic squares (and more) from

You select a member of the audience of random, and ask them to choose a
number between 1 and 12 (inclusive).
You select a second member of the audience, and also ask them to choose
another number between 1 and 12 (inclusive).
Next you write something on paper and then turn the paper over.
You show the audience a blank magic square (or you can draw a one on a
blackboard/whiteboard). I recommend doing this trick with a 5 X 5
magic square – while it is possible to use any size magic square that you
like, this trick is easiest (unless you are extremely good at mental
arithmetic) if you use a 5 X 5 magic square.
You write the first chosen number in the top-left cell of the magic square.
You add the second number to the first number, and write the total in the
cell one place to the right of the top-left. You then add the second number
again, and write this total in the next cell to the right. You repeat this
process again and again until you have filled every cell in the top row with
a different number. After you have finished filling out top row, you
continue by filling in the second row from left to right, and when that is
done, then the third row, and so on. Eventually every cell in the entire
magic square will be filled with a different number.
For example, imagine that the first volunteer chose 3, and the second
volunteer chose 4:
You would write 3 in the top-left cell.
You would write 7 (because 3 + 4 = 7) in the next cell.
Then continue by writing 23, 27, 31, 35, 39, 43, 47, 51, and so on in
the cells after that.
After you have filled out the entire magic square with numbers, it should
end up looking something like this:
You ask a third member of the audience to choose any one of the numbers
on the magic square. You circle their chosen number. Your magic square
will now look something like this:
You cross out all the other numbers which are in the same row or column as
the chosen number. Your magic square will now look something like this:
You then ask another audience member to choose another number on the
magic square – they must choose a number which is still available – that is
to say a number which has not been circled, and has not been crossed out.
Again you circle the audience member's chosen number, and cross out all
the other numbers that are in the same row or column as the chosen
number. Your magic square will now look something like this:
You repeat this process of asking audience members to choose an available
number, and crossing out the other numbers in the same row or column,
until every number has either been used or eliminated (the last audience
member will only have one number to choose from!). Eventually your
magic square will look something like this:
You ask a volunteer from the audience to add up all the circled numbers
(you can provide him with a calculator if you wish). When the volunteer
announces the answer, you turn over the paper and show that you predicted
the answer before the trick began!

1. The number that you write on the paper depends on the size of magic
square and the numbers selected by the first two volunteers. For a particular
size magic square of this type, there is a formula for the final answer –
assuming we call the second volunteer's number b, and the first volunteer's
a (You will notice that I suggest beginning the calculation by starting with
the more difficult multiplication, involving the second volunteer's number.
This is because I believe that it is easier to work out the answer by doing it
in this order):
For a 3 X 3 magic square, the total is always 12b + 3a
Tip: Unless you are extremely good at mental arithmetic, most of these
formulae are difficult to work out in your head. However, two
particular magic squares (4 X 4 and 5 X 5) have relatively easy
formulae. Since 5 X 5 looks more impressive than 4 X 4, we
recommend choosing this.
2. Assuming that you use 5 X 5 magic squares, here are some of examples
of how to quickly work out the total (similar tactics can be used for 4 X 4 as
well):
If second volunteer chose 3 and the first volunteer chose 7. Then you
would need to calculate ( 3 × 60 ) + ( 7 × 5 ) . This is relatively easy
if you now your times tables. 3 × 6 is 18, so 3 × 60 must be 180. 7 ×
5 is 35. So adding 180 and 35 gives the final answer of 215.
If second volunteer chose 9 and the first volunteer chose 8. Then you
would need to calculate ( 9 × 60 ) + ( 8 × 5 ) . 9 × 6 is 54, so 9 × 60
must be 540. 8 × 5 is 40. So adding 540 and 40 gives the final
answer of 580.
If second volunteer chose 11 and the first volunteer chose 9. Then
you would need to calculate ( 11 × 60 ) + ( 9 × 5 ) . 11 × 6 is 66, so
11 × 60 must be 660. 9 × 5 is 45. So adding 660 and 45 gives the
final answer of 705.
If second volunteer chose 12 and the first volunteer chose 3. Then
you would need to calculate ( 12 × 60 ) + ( 3 × 5 ) . 12 × 6 is 72, so
12 × 60 must be 720. 3 × 5 is 15. So adding 720 and 15 gives the
final answer of 735.


1. The reason the trick works is that, just like the basic Magic Squares
trick, the final total sum will always match the sum of numbers along the
main diagonal of the magic square (both main diagonals will add to the
same number).
2. The proof that this will always be the case involves several steps:
(i) The rule about crossing out all numbers in the same row or column as a
chosen number ensures that the set of all cells chosen at the end of the trick
must always be in different rows and columns from each other.
(ii) Since you keep going until all the numbers (and therefore all the cells)
are chosen or eliminated, you always end with a magic square containing
exactly one chosen cell in every column, and exactly one chosen cell in
every row.
(iii) There are many ways that the chosen cells could be arranged within the
magic square, but one possible configuration is with chosen cells placed
along the main diagonal of the magic square. You could obviously
calculate the final total for this configuration by adding up all the numbers
in those squares – that is the sum of the numbers along the main diagonal of
the magic square.
(iv) If you start from the diagonal configuration, it is possible to reach any
other permissible configuration by moving the positions of the chosen cells
around – however this will have no effect on the final total made when
adding the numbers in the chosen cells:
If you want to move the position of a chosen cell left or right, you can only
do so by exchanging the column positions of two chosen cells (otherwise
you would end-up with a column containing more than one chosen cell).
If you move the position of one chosen cell x columns to the left (and
hence subtract ( x × b ) from the total sum of the numbers in the
chosen cells), you must also move the position of another chosen cell
x columns to the right (and hence add ( x × b ) to the total sum of the
numbers in the chosen cells). Subtracting and then adding the same
number results in no overall change in the total sum of the numbers.
Likewise, if you move the position of one chosen cell x columns to
the right (and hence add ( x × b ) to the total sum of the numbers in
the chosen cells), you must also move the position of another chosen
cell x columns to the left (and hence subtract ( x × b ) from the total
sum of the numbers in the chosen cells). Adding and subtracting the
same number results in no overall change in the total sum of the
numbers.
If you want to move the position of a chosen cell up or down, you can only
do so by exchanging the row positions of two chosen cells (otherwise you
would end-up with a row containing more than one chosen cell).
If you move the position of one chosen cell y rows upwards (and
hence subtract ( y × b × grid_size ) from the total sum of the numbers
in the chosen cells), you must also move the position of another
chosen cell y rows downwards (and hence add ( y × b × grid_size ) to
the total sum of the numbers in the chosen cells). Subtracting and
then adding the same number results in no overall change in the total
sum of the numbers. (Note: grid_size refers to number of
Likewise, if you move the position of one chosen cell y rows
downwards (and hence add ( y × b × grid_size ) to the total sum of the
numbers in the chosen cells), you must also move the position of
another chosen cell y rows to upwards (and hence subtract ( y × b ×
grid_size ) from the total sum of the numbers in the chosen cells).
Adding and subtracting the same number results in no overall change
in the total sum of the numbers. (Again, grid_size refers to number of
Starting from a diagonal configuration of chosen cells, and then using a

sequence of multiple moves – exchanging the column positions of chosen
cells, and/or exchanging row positions of chosen cells – you can reach any
permissible configuration of chosen cells. However every exchange in the
sequence has no effect on the total sum of the all chosen cells. The total is
always therefore always the same as the starting the total – the sum of the
numbers along the main diagonal.
Psychic Arithmetic
Equipment Required:
Pen
Paper

Next, you ask a volunteer member of the audience to play a game with you.
You explain that the game is very simple: you and the volunteer will take
turns writing down four-digit numbers on the paper.
You then start the game by writing down an apparently random four-digit
number, and invite the volunteer to do the same. Then you quickly write
down another four-digit number, and again invite the volunteer to write
another four-digit number Finally you write down one more four-digit
number, and say something like "that's enough for now". You should now
have a list of 5 four-digit numbers.
Now you then ask the volunteer to add up the numbers on the list, then to
turn the paper over to reveal that the total was written on the back of the
paper all along.
1. Before you start, you need to choose a four-digit number (make sure it is
one that is easy to remember!)
2. Subtract 2 from your number. You can now write down the predicted
answer on the back of the paper: write a leading 2 followed by your four-
digit number minus 2. For example, if you choose 1076 as your four-digit
number, you would write 21074 on the back of the paper. Likewise, if you
choose 9653 as your four-digit number, you would then write 29651 as the
predicted answer on the back of the paper.
3. Begin the game by writing your chosen four-digit number on the front of
the paper.
4. Invite the volunteer to write a four-digit number.
5. Respond by writing your second four-digit number underneath the

volunteer's number. You should act casual, as if choosing your number at
random, but in fact you need to choose the digits of your number such that
when paired with the corresponding digits of the volunteer's number, each
digit pair will add up to 9. For example, if the volunteer wrote 1235, you
would then need to respond with 8764 – because 1 + 8 = 9, 2 + 7 = 9, 3 + 6
= 9, and 5 + 4 = 9. Likewise, if the volunteer chose 4782, you would need
to respond with 5217 – because 4 + 5 = 9, 7 + 2 = 9, 8 + 1 = 9, and 2 + 7 =
9.
6. Invite the volunteer to write their second four-digit number.
7. Respond by writing a four-digit number underneath. Once again, you

should act causal, as if choosing a number completely at random, but you
must choose the digits of your number such that when paired with the
corresponding digits of the volunteer's number, each digit pair will add up
to 9.
8. Ask the volunteer to add together all five of the four-digit numbers in the
list.
9. Turn over the paper and reveal that you knew the answer all along!

1. All you are really doing in this trick is adding 19,998 to a chosen four-
digit number (your first four-digit number). Because the answer to this can
easily be mathematically determined ahead of time, you can of course write
the answer on the back of the paper before starting the game.
2. The number of the back of the paper is first four-digit number plus
19,998. Writing 2 in front of the four-digit number adds 20,000.
Subtracting 2 from that gives a net addition of 19,998.
3. When the volunteer writes their first four-digit number, your response is
chosen so that their number plus your response will always add up to 9,999.
4. When the volunteer writes their second four-digit number, your response
is chosen so that their number plus your response will also always add up to
9,999.
5. When the volunteer adds up all five numbers they are adding your first
number plus 9,999, plus another 9,999. 9,999 plus 9,999 is 19,998, so in
other words, they are simply calculating first four-digit number plus 19,998
– which is of course the number that you predicted and wrote on the back of
the paper.
Kaprekar (3 Digit)
Note: For a similar but more advanced trick, see Kaprekar (4 Digit).
Equipment Required:
Pen
Paper

Next, you ask a volunteer to choose a three-digit number and write it on the
paper – any three-digit number is allowed, provided the digits are not all
the same. So, 956, 403, 311, 295, or 112 would all be okay, but 111, 333, or
888 would not be.
You ask the volunteer to generate two new numbers by sorting the digits of
their number into descending and ascending order. For example if they had
956, they would generate 965 and 569. Likewise if they had 190, they
would generate 910 and 019.
You ask the volunteer to subtract the smaller of the two generated numbers
from the larger, and write the result down. Note: if they get a result that is
less than 100, you need to ask them to pad the answer with leading zeroes,
so 221 - 122 would be 099 rather than just 99.
Now starting from the current number, you ask the volunteer to repeat the
process, sorting the digits into descending and ascending orders to generate
two new numbers, and subtracting the smaller generated number from the
larger.
You ask the volunteer to repeat this process several times, and then you turn
over the paper to reveal that you knew the answer all along!

1. The number that you write on the back of paper is 495. All sequences of
3-digit numbers generated in this way will reach 495 within a maximum of
6 iterations – of course the audience does not know that!


1. With three-digit numbers, this type of sequence always reaches 495 (and
from then onwards generates 495 again and again forever), provided the
three-digit number does not consist of a single repeating digit.
2. These types of sequences were studied by the Indian mathematician

Dattaraya Ramchandra Kaprekar (1905 to 1986).
Kaprekar (4 Digit)
Note: For a similar but slightly simpler trick, see Kaprekar (3 Digit).
Equipment Required:
Pen
Paper

Next, you ask a volunteer to choose a four-digit number and write it on the
paper – any four-digit number is allowed, provided the digits are not all the
same. So, 9562, 4030, 3111, 2953, or 1122 would all be okay, but 1111,
3333, or 8888 would not be.
Now starting from the current number, you ask the volunteer to repeat the
process, sorting the digits into descending and ascending orders to generate
two new numbers, and subtracting the smaller generated number from the
larger.
You ask the volunteer to repeat this process several times, and then you turn
over the paper to reveal that you knew the answer all along!

1. The number that you write on the back of paper is 6174. All sequences
of 4-digit numbers generated in this way will reach 6174 within a maximum
of 7 iterations – of course the audience does not know that!


1. With four-digit numbers, this type of sequence always reaches 6174
(and from thence forward generates 6174 again and again forever),
provided the four-digit number does not consist of a single repeating digit..
2. These types of sequences were studied by the Indian mathematician

Dattaraya Ramchandra Kaprekar (1905 to 1986). As a result of this, 6174
is sometimes known as the "Kaprekar number".
Reverse Sum
Note: This trick starts similarly to Kaprekar (3 Digit), but then goes off
in a different direction.
Equipment Required:
Pen
Paper

Next, you ask a volunteer to choose a three-digit number and write it on the
paper – any three-digit number is allowed, provided the digits are not all
the same. So, 956, 403, 311, 295, or 112 would all be okay, but 111, 333, or
888 would not be.
The volunteer should now have a three-digit number. You ask the volunteer
to add the number to a copy of itself but with the digits in reverse order.
For example, if their three-digit number was 427, they would calculate 427
+ 724.
When they complete the calculation, you turn over the paper revealing that
you predicted the answer!

1. Simply write 1089 on the back of the paper. The final number is always
1089 – of course the audience does not know that!


1. As already mentioned, the final answer will always be 1089. Here is
why:
Imagine that the three-digit number consists of a large (L), medium
(M), and small (S) digit. After sorting the digits into ascending and
descending order, the first subtraction becomes this calculation:
We begin the subtraction process by performing subtraction on the
rightmost column of digits. However since L is larger than S, before
we can actually do this subtraction, we must first "borrow" 1 from the
middle column, and add 10 to S:
We can now calculate the result in the rightmost column of the

subtraction: S + 10 - L:
Having completed the rightmost column, we are now ready to begin

work on subtracting the middle column digits. However, M - 1 is
smaller than M, so before we can perform this subtraction, we must
first "borrow" 1 from the leftmost column and add 10 to the middle
column:
M - 1 + 10 can of course be rewritten more simply as M + 9, so we
have:
We now perform the subtraction on the middle column of digits.

Subtracting M from M + 9 results in 9:
We can now perform the subtraction of the leftmost column.

Subtracting S from L - 1 gives a result of L - 1 - S for that column.
We now have the subtraction stage of the magic trick, resulting in the
creation of a three-digit number, whose digits (from left to right) are L
- 1 - S, 9, and S + 10 - L:
The next stage is to add the result of the subtraction to the reversed
version of itself as shown below:
Adding the right most column results in 9 (all the L's and S's cancel
each other out):
Adding the middle column results in 18. We write 8 in the middle

column, and remember to carry 1 (shown in red) to the leftmost
column:
Adding the rightmost column, plus 1 carried from the middle column,
results in 10 (all the L's and S's cancel each other out):
Thus, the result is always 1089!

Magic Repeating Digit
Equipment Required:
Pen
Paper
Calculator (recommended) – If you don't use a calculator, you will need to
ask the volunteer to do long multiplication.

You write down the digits 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 on a piece of paper (note: 8 has
been left out the list deliberately).
You ask the volunteer to choose one of the digits, and circle it.
You tell the volunteer to multiply 12,345,679 (again the 8 has been left out
deliberately) by another number apparently plucked from your head.
The result is a repeating version of their chosen digit, for example

777,777,777.

1. You need to know your 9 times table to do this trick: the number that
you tell the volunteer to multiply by, is 9 times whatever digit they chose:
If the volunteer chooses 1, you tell him to multiply by 9.


1. The reason the trick works is based on two simple pieces of arithmetic,
and one important fact about multiplication.
The first bit of arithmetic is that 12,345,679 × 9 = 111,111,111.
The second bit of arithmetic is that multiplying 111,111,111 by any
single-digit number will result in a nine-digit number with that digit
being repeated nine times. For example, 111,111,111 × 4 =
444,444,444.
Additionally, this trick relies on the fact that multiplication is
commutative – which is a fancy way of saying that if you are
performing multiple multiplications you will get the same result
whichever order you perform the multiplications in.
2. For example, if we were to do 12,345,679 × 9 = 111,111,111, followed

by 111,111,111 × 4 = 444,444,444, we would write this in math terms as
12,345,679 × 9 × 4 = 444,444,444. However, it would not matter in which
order we did the multiplications – we could do 12,345,679 × 9 first and then
multiply the result by 4, or we could do 9 × 4 first, and then multiply the
result of that by 12,345,679. Mathematicians use brackets (also known as
parentheses), to indicate which order to perform operations such as
multiplication in, so in math symbols we could write:
( 12,345,679 × 9 ) × 4 = 12,345,679 × ( 9 × 4 ) = 444,444,444
3. By the way, this trick still works if you allow the volunteer to choose 8
as his digit, but you still need to multiply by 12345679.
Tricky Triple
Equipment Required:
Pen
Paper
ask the volunteer to do long division.

You write something down on the back of a piece of paper.
You ask a volunteer member of the audience to secretly choose a whole

number between 1 and 9 (inclusive).
You ask the volunteer to generate a new number by repeating their number
three times, so as to generate a three-digit number. For example, if their
initial number was 8, then their new three-digit number would be 888.
You now ask the volunteer to add up the digits of their three-digit number,
and then divide their three-digit number by this value. For example, if their
three-digit number was 234, they would calculate 2 + 3 + 4 = 9, and then
234 ÷ 9.
When they complete the calculation, you turn over the paper revealing that
you predicted the answer!
1. Simply write 37 on the back of the paper. The final number is always 37
– of course the audience does not know that!


1. As already mentioned, the final answer will always be 37. Here is why:
If we call the first number they choose n, then when the volunteer
repeats the number three times, they are getting 111n.
Adding three copies of the first number together gives 3n.
111n ÷ 3n = 37 (since the n's cancel out)
Calculated Number Transmission
Note: This book also contains other variations of this trick in which you
do not need to ask an audience member to calculate a number –
Number Transmission and Number Transmission (Advanced). To do
Number Transmission (Advanced), you need an assistant.
Equipment Required:
Paper (lots of sheets – one for each participating member of the audience
including the volunteer)
ask the volunteer to do long division.

You explain to the audience you are going to attempt an experiment in
mental telepathy, and hand out blank sheets of paper and pens to each
member of the audience.
You say that to do the experiment you will need a volunteer member of the
audience to join you on stage.
You ask this volunteer to secretly choose a whole number between 1 and 9
(inclusive).
You then ask the volunteer to generate a new number by repeating their
number three times, so as to generate a three-digit number. For example, if
their initial number was 8, then their new three-digit number would be 888.
You ask the volunteer to add up the digits of their three-digit number, and
then divide their three-digit number by this value. For example, if their
three-digit number was 234, they would calculate 2 + 3 + 4 = 9, and then
234 ÷ 9. Still keeping this number secret, the volunteer should write the
result of this final calculation down (or keep it on the calculator screen).
You now ask the volunteer not to tell you the number, but to try to mentally
transmit the number to you. After apparently intense mental concentration,
you gasp "Got it!"
You now explain that you will attempt to transmit the number to the
audience. You tell the audience not to write anything until you say.
However, when instructed, they should write down, in as large writing as
possible, the first number that they think of onto their paper.
Apparently concentrating very hard on telepathic transmission, you say "It's

a number between 1 and 50. Both digits are odd, and they are different
from each other – so 17 or 19 would be possible numbers, but 11 would not
be. Please write down the number that I am transmitting."
papers above their heads, and the volunteer to reveal the number that he
chose – nearly everybody has apparently received his number!

1. As explained previously in Tricky Triple, the steps followed by the
volunteer will produce the number 37.
2. As explained previously in Number Transmission, given the way that

you describe the number, nearly everybody tends to choose 37, while
simultaneously believing that there was a wide range of numbers that they
could have chosen.

I Know My 3,367 Times Table
Equipment Required:
Calculator

You tell the audience that you have learned all your times tables up to 3,367
× 100, and that you will now demonstrate this fact.
You ask a volunteer to choose a two-digit whole number (between 10 and

99 inclusive). You then tell them the result of multiplying 3,367 by that
number.
The volunteer then checks your result using a calculator, and of course finds
that it is correct.

1. When the volunteer chooses their two digit number you need to think of
it repeated three times to give a six-digit number. For example, if the
volunteer chose 74, then you would think of 747474.
2. In your head, you need to divide the six-digit number by 3 to get the
result. For example if the six-digit number was 747474, you would start
from the leftmost digit and use the following steps:
The first (leftmost) digit is a 7. 7 divided by 3 is 2 (so the leftmost
digit of the answer is 2), remainder 1.
The next digit is a 4, but we have a remainder of 1 from the previous
division, so it becomes 14. 14 divided by 3 is 4 (so the next digit of
the answer is 4), remainder 2.
the answer is 9), and with no remainder.
The next digit is a 4. 4 divided by 3 is 1 (so the next digit of the
answer is 1), remainder 1.
the answer is a 5), remainder 2.
The last digit is a 4, but we have a remainder of 2 from the previous
division, so it becomes 24. 24 divided by 3 is 8 (so the last digit of
the answer is an 8).
The answer is thus 249,158.

1. There are four simple mathematical facts behind this trick:
3,367 × 3 = 10,101.
Multiplying by 3,367 and then by 3 is the same as multiplying by
10,101.
Multiplying any two-digit number by 10,101 will result in a six-digit
number which repeats the two-digit number three times (for example
74 × 10,101 becomes 747,474 etc.).
Division is the opposite operation to multiplication.
2. Putting these together, it is easy to see how the trick works:

When the volunteer gives his two-digit number, mentally repeating it
three times is the same as multiplying it by 10,101 – which of course
is also the same as multiplying it by 3,367 and then by 3.
Dividing the six-digit number by 3, gives the number that would have
resulted if the volunteer's number had only been multiplied by 3,367.
Magic Cubes
Note: For a similar but more advanced trick, see Magic Fifths.
Equipment Required:
Calculator

You ask a volunteer to choose a number between 1 and 100, and to use the
calculator to work out its cube (for example, if they chose 47, they would
work out 47 × 47 × 47).
You ask the volunteer the result of the calculation, and then amaze them by
instantly telling them the starting number that they chose.

1. You need to learn the cubes of the numbers 1 to 10, which are given in
this table:-
2. When the volunteer gives you their cube number, you can use these steps
to figure out their starting number.
If the volunteer's cube number exactly matches one of the cubes that
you have memorized, then obviously you know the starting number.
For example, if their cube was 512, you would know their starting
number must have been 8.
If the volunteer's cube is exactly 1000 times one of the cubes that you
have memorized, then their starting number must be the
corresponding cube root multiplied by 10. For example, if their cube
is 512,000 then their starting number must be 80 (since 8 is the cube
root of 512).
In most cases, figuring out the cube root needs a little more work.
You begin by considering the thousands part of the number the
volunteer gives you – and this allows you to find the ten's digit in the
starting number: for example, if the volunteer gave 148,877 as their
cube, you know 148 is between 125 (5 cubed) and 216 (6 cubed), so
the starting number must be between 50 and 60. Next, you would
consider the unit's digit in the volunteer's cube number – you can use
this to figure out the unit's digit in the starting number (note: if you
look at the table of cubes from 1 to 10, you will notice each different
unit's digit in a starting number gives a specific corresponding unit's
digit in a cube number). So, if the volunteer gave 148,877 as their
cube, you would notice the unit's digit is 7, and thus the unit's digit of
their starting number must therefore have been 3 (since 3 cubed is
27). Since you would also already know that their number must be
between 50 and 60, it follows that their starting number must have
been 53.


1. The cube numbers that you deal with in this trick are quite large numbers
– in the tens or hundreds of thousands. Most people tend to assume that the
way you got the answer must either be by going backwards from the cube
number to the starting number by calculating the cube root, or by knowing
the cube roots of thousands of large numbers. Either of these methods,
would obviously be a quite amazing mental feat.
2. Of course the trick is much simpler, you simply know the first 10 cube
numbers. This plus the fact that cube numbers occur in the same order as
the numbers which they are cubes of, allows you to narrow down the
answer to within a range of 10. Then, the fact that you know that the
volunteer's starting is an integer (whole number), plus the lucky
coincidence that each possible unit's digit in a starting number results in a
different unit's digit in the cube, allows you to solve the problem with ease.
3. You could argue that this is a case demonstrating the power of

asymmetric information – since you know the method and the volunteer and
audience don't, but that's only half right – the audience have most of the
same information as you (they know the starting number must be a whole
number, and they almost certainly also know that cubes occur in the same
order as the numbers that they are cubes of) – but they are probably
unaware of (and perhaps not even considering) how to combine these
various bits of information together in order to solve the problem.
Magic Fifths
Note: For a similar but slightly simpler trick, see Magic Cubes.
Equipment Required:
Calculator

You ask a volunteer to choose a whole number between 1 and 100, and to
use the calculator to work out its 5th power (for example, if they chose 47,
they would work out 47 × 47 × 47 × 47 × 47).
You ask the volunteer the result of the calculation, and then amaze them by
instantly telling them the starting number that they chose.

1. You need to learn the 5th powers of the multiples of 10 between 10 and
90 (inclusive).
2. When the volunteer gives you their final number, you can use these steps
to figure out their starting number.
If the final number exactly matches one of the 5th powers that you
have memorized, then obviously you know the starting number. For
example, if their final number was 3,276,800,000 then you would
know their starting number must have been 90.
If the final number is less than 100,000, then look at the unit's digit in
the volunteer's final number – because the unit's digit in the starting
number is always exactly the same! For example, if the final number
was 16,807, then the volunteer's starting number must have been 7.
In most cases, the final number will be between two numbers given in
the table – and you can use this to narrow down the range in which
the starting number falls. For example, if the final number was
45,435,424, then you would know that the starting number must be
between 30 and 40, because 45,435,424 is between 24,300,000 (305)
and 102,400,000 (405). Once you have narrowed down the starting
number to within a range of 10, all you have to do is look at the unit's
digit in the volunteer's final number – because the unit's digit in the
starting number is always exactly the same! So, if the volunteer gave
45,435,424 as their final number, you would know their starting
number must have been 34.

1. Just like Magic Cubes, the Magic Fifth trick works because the problem
looks harder than it really us. Most people assume that you are starting
with the volunteer's final number (which is usually at least in the millions)
and working backwards to find the 5th root, which would be extremely
difficult. You of course know that you are simply choosing among a very
limited selection of possible starting points.
Golden Sequence
Equipment Required:
Pen
Paper
Calculator

You find a volunteer in the audience, and ask them to choose any positive
number that they like. You write their number on the top of the paper. You
then ask the volunteer to choose a second positive number, and write it
underneath the first number.
You get the volunteer to add the two numbers together, and write the sum
underneath. You ask the volunteer to add the 2nd and 3rd numbers in the
list, and write the sum underneath. You keep repeating this process (adding
the 3rd and 4th numbers to generate a 5th, and so on). When you get to the
bottom of the page after about 12 to 15 numbers, you ask the volunteer to
divide the last number by the second to last number using the calculator.
You now turn the paper over, and reveal that you predicted the result correct
to 3 decimal places!
1. The number that you write on the back of the paper is 1.618 – this will
always be the final number, although of course the audience does not know
that!
2. Since you write the first two numbers on the front of the paper, I
recommend making your writing about the size which will fit about 15 or
16 similarly sized numbers on the paper. That way when the volunteer
starts writing their numbers they will naturally follow your sizing, so will
tend to fit at least a dozen numbers on the page – this is important to make
the trick work – see below.


1. The ratio between successive members of any sequence of numbers
generated in this way always gradually converges on a mathematical
constant known as "Phi" (represented by the Greek symbol Φ) or the
"Golden Ratio", which has a value of approximately 1.618. For more
information on Phi, please see Amazing Math: The Most Interesting,
Astonishing, and Absolutely Awesome Numbers in the Universe.
2. It is important to realize that although the ratio always converges on Phi,

it does so gradually – you will need a list of at least a dozen numbers
(including the initial two number supplied by the volunteer) for your
prediction to be correct to 3 decimal places. If you size your writing so that
the about 15 to 16 rows of numbers will fit on the page, the volunteer will
most likely size their writing to match – and hence when they get to the
bottom of the page, they will "naturally" stop – or you can suggest that the
volunteer does.
3. Here is a demonstration of why the ratio converges on Phi:

Let us call the first number chosen by the volunteer, which becomes
the first number in the sequence, A.
Let us call the second number chosen by the volunteer, which
becomes the second number in the sequence, B.
The third term in the sequence will be the first and second terms
added together, that is to say A + B.
The fourth term in the sequence will be the second term B, added to
the third term A + B. Or in mathematical symbols B + ( A + B ) which
of course can be written as A + 2B.
The fifth term in the sequence will be the third term A + B, added to
the fourth term A + 2B. Or in mathematical symbols ( A + B ) + ( A +
2B ) which of course can be written as 2A + 3B.
The sixth term in the sequence will be the fourth term A + 2B added
to the fifth term 2A + 3B. Or in mathematical symbols ( A + 2B ) + (
2A + 3B ) which of course can be written as 3A + 5B.
The seventh term in the sequence will be the fifth term 2A + 3B added
to the sixth term 3A + 5B. Or in mathematical symbols ( 2A + 3B ) +
( 3A + 5B ) which of course can be written as 5A + 8B.
Continuing in this fashion, the eighth term comes to 8A + 13B.
The ninth term comes to 13A + 21B.
The tenth term comes to 21A + 34B.
The eleventh term comes to 34A + 55B.
The twelfth term comes to 55A + 89B.
The thirteenth term comes to 89A + 144B.
The fourteenth term comes to 144A + 233B.
The fifteenth term comes to 233A + 377B.
The sixteenth term comes to 377A + 610B.
...and so on
It is easy to calculate the range of possible ratios between successive terms.

For example, suppose we wanted to calculate the range of possible ratios
between the eleventh (34A + 55B) and twelfth (55A + 89B) terms in a
sequence of this type.
If A is very much larger than B, then 55A will be very much larger
than 89B, and likewise 34A will be very much larger than 55B, so the
ratio between the eleventh and twelfth terms in the sequence will be
approximately 55A ÷ 34A = 1.617647 (to 6 decimal places).
If B is very much larger than A, then 89B will be very much larger
than 55A, and likewise 55B will be very much larger than 34A, so the
ratio between the eleventh and twelfth terms in the sequence will be
approximately 89B ÷ 55B = 1.618182 (to 6 decimal places).
If A and B are fairly similar to each other, then the ratio between the
eleventh and twelfth terms must fall somewhere between these two
values.
Hence we can say the ratio between the eleventh and twelfth terms
will be somewhere between 1.617647 and 1.618182.
The number of A's, B's, and the ratio of A's and B's between successive
terms, is shown for the first 16 items in a sequence in the table below:
If you look carefully at the above table, you may recognize that the number
of A's in successive terms (from the 3rd term onwards), and that the number
of B's in successive terms (from the 2nd term onwards) follow an extremely
well-known mathematical sequence known as the Fibonacci sequence. If
you are not familiar with the Fibonacci sequence, and would like to learn
more about it, it is discussed in the chapter on Phi in Amazing Math: The
Most Interesting, Astonishing, and Absolutely Awesome Numbers in
the Universe.
The Fibonacci sequence is amazing because it is both very simple

(successive members of the Fibonacci sequence are generated by adding the
previous two members together), and yet can be used to generate very
complex patterns. Moreover, it turns out that the Fibonacci sequence is
intimately linked to Phi. I do not want you to get the impression that Phi
and the Fibonacci sequence are only important in math – they also both
make numerous appearances nature and the world of technology.
In case you are wondering, the Fibonacci sequence takes its name after a
mathematician. It is named after the Fibonacci (c. 1170 to c. 1250), who is
also sometimes known as Leonardo of Pisa, as Leonardo Pisano, as
Leonardo Pisano Bigollo, or as Leonardo Fibonacci. Fibonacci did not
discover the sequence that bears his name (it seems to have been known by
earlier Indian mathematicians), but he did introduce the sequence, and
many other mathematical innovations (including the Hindu-Arabic numeral
system that we still use today) to Europe in his 1202 book, Liber Abaci,
which means "Book of Calculation".
Fibonacci – great mathematician, author of one of the most important

mathematical texts in history, evangelist of the eponymous sequence – and
thereby indirectly responsible for the creation of a cool math trick:
I Know Your Digit
Equipment Required:
Calculator

You find volunteer in the audience, and hand the volunteer the calculator.
You then ask the volunteer, without showing you what they are doing, to
choose a single-digit number (1 to 9 inclusive) on the calculator and keep
multiplying it by different single-digit numbers (1 to 9 inclusive) until they
have a seven-digit or eight-digit number on the calculator screen.
You then ask the volunteer to choose any non-zero digit of the number for
themselves, but tell you all the other digits one by one (optional: tell them
that they can read the digits in any order). When explaining this procedure,
you do need make sure it is clear that if they choose a digit which occurs
more than once in the number, they must still read out all the other
occurrences of that digit.
As the volunteer reads out each digit, you say "got it!" Then, at the end,
you focus on the volunteer, with a look of intense concentration on your
face, and after apparently tremendous mental effort, you announce the
missing digit claiming to have obtained it by ESP.

1. When the volunteer is reading out the digits one-by-one keeping a
running total of the sum of the digits in your head.
2. When the list of digits is complete, if the total is a multiple of 9 (in the 9
times table), then the missing digit is 9. If the total is not a multiple of 9,
the missing digit is whatever you would need to add to the total into a
multiple of 9. For example, if the total were 91, then you would need to
add 8 to make a number (99) in the 9 times table, and hence the missing
digit is 8. Likewise if the total were 41, then you would need to add 4 to
make a number (45) in the 9 times table, and hence know the missing digit
is 4.
3. When done well, and with good acting, this trick really can look like
ESP – so be sure to enjoy the audience's amazement, revel in their

1. It is virtually certain that the large number on the calculator screen will
be divisible by 9. This is because you asked the volunteer to generate a
large number by multiplying different single-digit numbers together, and to
get a number of the required size they probably multiplied about a dozen or
more numbers. If any of these single-digit numbers were 9, or any two
were 3, or any two were 6, or there was a 3 and a 6, then the resulting large
number would be divisible by 9 – in other words it is virtually certain that
their final number will be divisible by 9.
2. All numbers which are divisible by 9 always have digits which add up to
a multiple of 9 (see the chapter on the 9 times table in Teach Your Kids
Math: Multiplication Times Tables). Hence it is virtually certain that the
digits of the large number must add up to a multiple of 9.
3. If the volunteer omits a digit 9 (or a digit 0, but we avoid this by

requiring they choose a non-zero digit), then the other digits will still add
up to a multiple of 9. If the volunteer omits any other digit, the total of the
digits will be short of a multiple of 9 by this amount. Hence by summing
the digits that they read out, you can figure out which digit they must have
omitted.
Conclusion
Well done – I hope you enjoyed the tricks – and the math! If you learned
something along the way, that's great too!
For more math tricks fun, please go to

http://www.suniltanna.com/tricks
By the way, if you enjoyed this book, please post a positive review on
Amazon!
To find out about other educational books that I have written, please go to:
For math books: http://www.suniltanna.com/math
For science books: http://www.suniltanna.com/science
Remember: If you enjoyed this book, please post a positive review on

Amazon!
Thanks!

Math Magic Amazing Tricks With Numbers, Arithmetic &amp; Geometry!

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Math Magic Amazing Tricks With Numbers, Arithmetic &amp; Geometry!

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Math Magic:

Amazing Tricks With Numbers, Arithmetic &

TRICKS WHERE A CALCULATOR IS NOT REQUIRED

CARD TRICKS (CALCULATOR NOT REQUIRED)

TRICKS WHERE A CALCULATOR MAY OPTIONALLY BE USED

TRICKS WHERE A CALCULATOR IS RECOMMENDED

TRICKS WHERE A CALCULATOR IS REQUIRED

Note: You can get a PDF download containing high-quality printable

How the Trick Appears:

Variation: If you are doing this trick in front of an audience, you

How to Do the Trick:

2. Enjoy the audience's amazement, revel in their admiration, and bask in

How the Trick Works:

Tip: It really is extremely likely that the volunteer will choose

How the Trick Appears:

You ask a volunteer member of the audience to choose a two-digit number

How to Do the Trick:

How the Trick Works:

Some Important Terminology

How the Trick Works:

2. The number of triangles that will be appear at the end is given by a

How the Trick Works:

Note: You can get a PDF download containing printable versions of

How the Trick Appears:

How the Trick Works:

Note: You can get a PDF download containing printable versions of

How the Trick Appears:

You then rearrange the shapes to form the following figure:

Somehow a new square seems to have appeared from nowhere!

How to Do the Trick:

How the Trick Works:

Here is the list of numbers to put on each of the cards:

How the Trick Appears:

How to Do the Trick:

How the Trick Works:

Here is how to color the numbers on each of the cards:

How the Trick Appears:

How to Do the Trick:

How the Trick Works:

Here is how to color the numbers on each of the cards:

Note: You can get a PDF download containing high-quality printable

How the Trick Appears:

How to Do the Trick:

How the Trick Works:

Here is how to color the numbers on each of the cards:

Second card: 2 on front, 10 on back (fold down the middle):

Fourth card: 4 on front, 12 on back (fold down the middle):

Sixth card: 6 on front, 14 on back (fold down the middle):

Seventh card: 7 on front, 15 on back (fold down the middle):

Note: You can get a PDF download containing high-quality printable

How to Do the Trick:

How the Trick Appears:

How the Trick Works:

How the Trick Appears:

Next, you ask a volunteer member of the audience to choose a number

How to Do the Trick:

2. When you reveal your correct prediction, enjoy the audience's

How the Trick Works:

(Note: It would be theoretically possible to have loop – for example, one

How the Trick Appears:

Explain the difference between shuffling (moving the counters/coins around

You now ask the volunteer to blindfold you.

You then sort the counters/coins into two piles.

How to Do the Trick:

Math Magic Amazing Tricks With Numbers, Arithmetic & Geometry!

Math Magic Amazing Tricks With Numbers, Arithmetic & Geometry!