Werner Miller has just released an interesting new (and free!) mathematical effect called the Age Square.

It's a computer program that generated a random magic square. Asking the person if they happen to see their age anywhere in the square (but not to tell it to you), you click anywhere on the screen, and some numbers become highlighted. You ask them to click on "YES" if they see their age highlighted, and "NO" if they don't see it highlighted. This is repeated 3 more times with different squares highlighted (yes, like the age cards).

After this, a new magic square is generated, and it totals the person's age in many different ways!

A Windows version is available via the link above (which describes the secret in more detail), and there's also an iPhone WebApp version (which you can use in your browser).

In the iPhone version, I've added an extra feature. Once their age is determined, and the magic square totaling their age is showing, you can click (or tap, if you're using an iPhone/iPod Touch) anywhere in the top 2 rows, and it will highlight a pattern that totals their age. Tap anywhere in the top 2 rows again, and another pattern totaling their age will be highlighted. You can run through up to 24 different arrangements that total their age. If you wish to stop at any point (or not run through even a single pattern), simply click or tap anywhere in the bottom two rows to get a clear board, and you're ready to begin the program again!

Very cool. Thanks

BJ

I've got this bookmarked on my iPhone.

Very cool.

Thank you!

Wow! What a world of good reading instructions does before you try this.
Great stuff here Scott!


Thanks!

Yikes! Jim, you tried to use this without reading the instructions?!? I can only assume that was an interesting experience.

Thank Werner Miller! He's the genius behind this routine.

BTW, once I had Werner Miller's Age Square under my belt, I decided to do a complete rewrite of my iPhone Knight's Tour, as well. It's now much easier to use on an iPhone, as all the squares, controls, and messages are much bigger now.

Oh, and I linked to some other free iPhone goodies on today's blog entry.

Now can somebody transform this into a manual magic square trick without the computer?