My math teacher told me this on:

Pretend you have memorized the first 999 word in the dictionary..acually you only memorize 9! Have them selcet any 3 digit #...all different digits...there are only 9 options if you reverse the number and subtract it..

ex-
- 654
456
495

ok here they are
99
198
297
396
495
594
693
792
891

Ok, those 8

Now memorize 9 words in the dictionary...go to each of those pages....and memorize the last digit of number down Ex. 594....Pg. 594, the 4th word down...

Well after you memorize the words and then your set to go!

It's a great little trick.

That's nifty! Thanks for sharing.

I am not sure why this is in the Betchas section, but good work. Welcome to the Café!

how about, I betcha I've memorised the whole dictionary, tell you what why don't you pick a 3 number between...

The three-digit number reversed and subtracted against itself is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a lot of neat stuff. The interesting thing about it is that it always creates a multiple of nine. Nine itself is a pretty neat number and many seemingly impossible things can be done with it.

cool

You guys (and gals) can take it a step farther, and really knock them out. They choose any three digit number, where the numbers aren't duplicated. So, number 556 is not allowed, etc.
Then they reverse it as in the first example, and subtract the smaller three digit set of numbers from the larger.

This gives them a new three digit number. Have them reverse this new number, and add these last two sets together. The answer will always be 1089. With this knowledge you only have to memorize one word in the dictionary. Tell them to go to page 108, and count down to the 9th. word.

Example: they select number 321. You tell them to reverse it (123) and subtract the smaller set from the larger: 321 minus 123 is 198. They now reverse 198 (891) and add these two sets together: 198 plus 891 equals 1089.

This is commonly used as a mentalists dodge, but could easily be used as the bet noted above.

If someone told me they had the whole dictionary memorized and then asked me to jump through math problems to get to a word, I don't think I'd be impressed, or bet with him; however, there are several book test that will help you come to the same end, without the math.

PS: If a mentalists is asking you to do math to 'randomly' select something, you are best off to dodge him