3 guys go to buy a tv that costs 30 pounds.

Each of them give the sales guy a ten pound note.

The sales guy scans the tv and the price comes up as only 25 pounds (the ticket price was wrong)

So, he puts the 30 pounds in the till, and takes 5 one pound coins out.

As he can't divide 5/3 he gives each of the three men a pound back and pockets two pounds for himself.

Now....

By giving each of the three men one pound back, they have in effect only paid nine pounds each for the tv.

3 X 9 =27

Plus the two pounds in the sales guys pocket = 27+2=29

Where's the other pound...?

An oldy but goldy...let's let people suffer with it for a bit

Fon

I believe that Daryl developed a trick based on this question, that was published in Labyrinth.

0pus

The guys actual paid £9.333 each


They each in effect gave the sales guy 0.666 pence each, which totals £2.00

I have cheated friend out of change using this method (tempory).

I look at it a different (perhaps backwards) way.

The men actually DID pay £27: £25 for the TV and £2 to the dishonest sales guy.

0pus

Why are you adding the two in the salesman's pocket? You'd only add it if it were going back into the cash register.

The men pay 30 pounds, 10 pounds each. When the mistake in price is discovered, 5 pounds is taken out of the register, with three going to the men, and the remaining 2 going to the salesmen.

In short, you're not doing 30 minus 3 plus 2, you're doing 30 minus 3 minus 2, which totals 25. That's the price of the TV, and there's no missing money.

Correct!

However, use my wording and watch peoples eyes gloss over as they stare into space trying to work it out!

Fon

GOOD ONE!

Some people Do know that one.
Basically quite a lot can tell that you recalculate in two different directions.
You either start from 25 and aad up or you deduct from 30 downwards. Starting from 27 - so in the middle of the sequence, is a very clever priciple.

I use this one myself, with different story lines, as an introductional piece right after my first effect.

I then challenge people to tell me where the missing piece of currency ended up.

This is a nice way to keep potential heckler's brains occupied throughout a show...LOL.

HOWEVER! To make it work, you have to be on top of playing with words... you patter has to have the potential of luring people to where you want them.

Perfect example of MISDIRECTING WITH WORDS.

As a matter of fact, I DO announce this as a piece of magic that uses NO PROPS!
Sometimes I also told people I was about to vanish a bit of money, but first, I want to tell them a little story...
You see where this leads to.

Have a nice day, Mandrake

Daryl's effect can be found in one of his lectures videos by international magic.