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JH5magic Regular user 130 Posts |
Thought I’d ask my fellow MC members to share their favorite card effect that is based on a mathematical principle. The preference (purely mine) is that it not contain any math-based instruction (i.e. add these two numbers, then subtract your original card, etc.). Please provide the originator's name, title and source of the effect along with a brief description.
What prompted this is an effect that I would like share that looks IMPOSSIBLE! It is called Time after Time by Tomas Blomberg and found on the "21 - Magic by Sweden" DVD. Here's what the audience sees.. 3 spectators (S) select cards and return them to the deck which is shuffled. The magician (M) cuts the deck into 3 piles. Each (S) is asked to think of a favorite number between 10 and 20. They each pick up a pile and count that number to the table dropping the balance on top. The (M) exchanges the packets between the (S) and they repeat the count/drop. The (M) exchanges them one last time and the (S) repeat the count/drop a final time. As impossible as it seems... the (M) turns over the top card of each pile and it is the (S) card! |
MatCult Inner circle 1518 Posts |
Bobo's "Higher Mentality" fits the bill IMHO.
Any deck, any time, anywhere. Read the minds of multiple spectators cleanly and sleightlessly. Killer effect! http://trickshop.com/shop/higher-mentality
"Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business."
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brad12d3 Special user 526 Posts |
I love this thread! I just discovered the gilbreath principle about a month ago. mathematical tricks like these are becoming my new favorite type of effect. It feels like your tapping into some supernatural math voodoo that lets you do things that defy logic. It gets scarily close to real magic.
One I would recommend that I thought was fantastic was the bonus trick at the end of three degrees by Harvey Berg. I forget the name of it. You could theoretically do this over the phone because it uses new deck order as its stack. I'll add more details later when I get some time. |
owen.daniel Inner circle England 1048 Posts |
So I have a couple of things to contribute here, each has its merits for different purposes. One point I make about all three however is that they can be used with a borrowed shuffled deck; none rely on any elaborate arrangement or stack.
'Ultimate Prediction' from MacTier's Card Concepts. Is it the ultimate prediction? far from it. Is it a great performance piece? not really. At heart this is a simple way to force a card, though the procedure is somewhat illogical (for people who do perform this I have a few minor moderations... pm me if interested). I include this trick entirely because the methodology uses some nice mathematics (and I am a mathematician). I regularly use this trick to show undergraduate mathematics students that what they are learning has some use! As an exercise I then ask the students to prove why the trick works, a non-trivial exercise in modular arithmetic. 'UnDo Influence' from Aronson's Try the Impossible. Not so much an effect (though Aronson details many in the book) I include this as I think its an interesting utility tool that could easily be used in many contexts. In effect this is a control of two (or one if you'd prefer) selections to specific positions in the deck. Perhaps you want one of the cards to end up at 12th, and a second to be at 38th, then the UnDo Influence principle is your go to tool. The mathematics itself is not all that interesting... but this wasn't a thread about beautiful mathematics in the first place! 'Numerology' from Giobbi's Card College Volume 3. This is an effect that I perform all the time and gets as strong a reaction as much of my most visual card magic. The effect is that a spectator's selection is lost in the deck. After having the cards shuffled a random number is arrived at, the cards dealt to that number, and of course the spectator's card is in that position. The effect appeals to me for two reasons: the spectators are blown away, and I enjoy the methodology. It relies on two mathematical ruses. One of these is the ability to do a partial faro shuffle (needs to be accurate for the top stock), though even this can be dropped with some adjustment in the handling. Finally an honorable mention has to go to the Kruskal count... purely because it is a consequence of one of my favorite theorems, the Birkhoff ergodic theorem... for further evidence of why this theorem is so beautiful look up 'normal numbers'. Owen |
MagicMan1957 Inner circle 1445 Posts |
'UnDo Influence' from Aronson's Try the Impossible is a KILLER effect!
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JH5magic Regular user 130 Posts |
The great thing about threads like this to me are that they send me back to books on shelf that I have sadly neglected or introduce new works that in turn go on my wish list [even though I already have more than a lifetime’s worth of books to read! ]
@MatCult – thanks for the link. It sounds like a great effect and I went back and read some earlier threads on Magic Café about it… all very positive. Someone mentioned some similarities to “Sleight of Mind” from Karl Fulves “Self Working Mental Magic”, so I yanked that book off my shelf to take a peeik, but I may just end up ordering the Bobo one. @brad12d3 – I too enjoy gilbreath principle. I gravitate towards effects that have a gambling theme. I was lucky enough to see Harvey Berg perform his Three Degrees at my local SAM assembly meeting. I really enjoyed it and Harvey was kind enough to tip the method to us. Devious! @owen… thanks for your contributions. Ultimate Prediction' from MacTier's Card Concepts.: I don’t own MacTier's Card Concepts, so wasn’t able to look at it. A quick Google search didn’t yield any current available copies, although it looked like Fun Inc. may have reprinted it? In any case, I like how you use it with your students! UnDo Influence' from Aronson's Try the Impossible: I do have this book and re-read the UnDo Influence Theory and Practice section again this morning. As you mentioned, this is a great way of controlling two selections to specific positions. I will be playing with one of the effect this weekend. This also prompted me to remember a control of one card to any location that I read in a Glenn Gravatt book that I will post separately. Numerology' from Giobbi's Card College Volume 3: this effect sounded familiar and I know that I have performed a similar effect where three packets are dealt face up counting down from 10-to-1, stopping on the count/card match, and then using the total of the 3 packets to arrive at the selection, but I can’t recall the name of the effect at the moment. But this is one that I have not tried from Giobbi’s book and I look forward to working through this effect. |
JH5magic Regular user 130 Posts |
Kosky’s Automatic Placement
I picked up two great little books by Glenn Gravatt called “50 Modern Card Tricks” and “50 More Modern Card Tricks”. In “50 Modern…” there are two items called “Kosky’s Automatic Placement” and “Marlo’s Automatic Placement”. They both utilize a very simple mathematic principle to place a chosen card at any location in the deck. I’ll describe it in the context of a simple effect: All of this can be performed with the (M)agician facing away. The (M) has the (S)pectator shuffle the deck and cut off a small packet, count it to arrive at their ‘secret number’ (let’s say they cut off 11 cards), and hide the packet of cards. The (M) then asks the (S) to remember the card at their ‘secret number’. The (M) asks another (S) to name any number less than 52. Let’s say they name 30. The (M) asks the (S) to deal the cards face up calling out the color of each card as he waits upon the hidden power of the universe to influence him. Suddenly, the (M) shouts stop. The (S) assembles the deck and counts down to the 30th card and it is the selection. The (M) now turns around and faces his adoring audience. |
Larry Barnowsky Inner circle Cooperstown, NY where bats are made from 4770 Posts |
"The Buried Treasure of Triangle Island"
A flat triangular board is introduced which represents the treasure map of Triangle Island. A treasure card is shown and “buried” in the deck. The deck of cards is shuffled by the magician. The spectator freely chooses and marks any site on the island in search of the treasure. She measures the shortest distance in miles from her site to the three adjacent shorelines and records that sum. That sum according to legend tells her how many feet to dig down to find the treasure. Using the deck as the treasure site, she counts down that number of cards for each foot in her sum. Before she reaches the last card she takes the map in her other hand. She turns the last card face up and finds that to be the buried treasure card (the only one in the deck). The treasure card is picked up and placed on the triangular map. Suddenly, the spectator feels something hit her palm. When the triangle is removed, lying in her own hand is the treasure, a valuable old silver coin. The mathematics which makes this work is hidden and originally proved by a contemporary of Galileo. The routine (and math proof) can be found in Ch.43 of The Book of Destiny A photo from the book showing the finale of the effect is at http://www.barnowskymagic.com/bookofdestinyphotos2.html Larry |
JH5magic Regular user 130 Posts |
@Larry - What a wonderful premise for the routine! I checked out your YouTube video and all of the raving reviews both on the Magic Café and Genii. Yet another book I'll be saving my pennies to purchase! Thanks! John
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TomasB Inner circle Sweden 1144 Posts |
JH5, thank you so much for the mention. That warms a lot. The trick is really dear to me, since the wonderful Jack Parker asked me to be his hands and perform his similar trick called Third Time's the Charm, which required half the deck to be stacked. During breakfast the day of performance I came up with this way of doing it with a fully shuffled deck. It was the last time I saw Jack before he passed away.
UnDo Influence is definitely at the top of my list ( http://youtu.be/yncPPuNDWGY?t=5m50s ) as is Half the Excess, which Simon Aronson uses in his trick Point Spread from the book Simply Simon. Jennings' Impossible from The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings gave me a kick also, as the sloppy looking recap of the trick makes it all happen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY-06RHJTAY Never Tell Them What's Going to Happen by Woody Aragón (A Book in English) uses a self adjusting principle by Ramón Riobóo that you _will_ find inspiring: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndXNnGDgYq8#t=13m30s Larry, fantastic to turn that into a trick. Nice! /Tomas |
owen.daniel Inner circle England 1048 Posts |
Tomas,
I agree ful-heartedly that 'Never Tell Them What's Going To Happen' is just about one of the best effects I've read in the last year. In my previous post I restricted myself to effects that really depend on mathematical princples... and in the case of Woody Aragon's effect I would say that this is not really a mathematical principle... in the same sense that Simon Aronson's Undo Influence principle is not mathematical: i.e. the mathematics required is really just following cuts... Ok, so the definition of what constitutes mathematical magic is somewhat open, and in general people equate 'self working' magic to 'mathematical' magic. I personally choose to make a distinction: a mathematical effect should rely on a non-obvious mathematical statement, whilst self working effects can depend on obvious facts which are disguised as a part of the effec.t I make this distinction purely from an aesthetic viewpoint: as a mathematician, when I read that an effect relies on a mathematical principle, my interest is instantly piqued... however if I find that this principle is in fact just about cutting cards, I am instantly put off... at least in the sense that I am 'unimpressed' by the methodology. Personally I choose to describe Aragon's 'Never Tell Them What's Going To Happen' as a self working effect: ok, its not self working (you have to be able to cut the deck to a specific (easy to find) location), but ultimately it doesn't use any interesting mathematics. Does this detract from the effect? No: this trick is brilliant, and currently is the only effect I perform from Woody Aragon's A Book In English, but this really kills audiences. But I wouldn't really call this mathematical. Owen PS. For those wondering why I bothered to post this: ok, so the real motivation was to get across my own feelings about what consitutes mathematics, but more importantly I wanted to reinforce Tomas' reference to this effect... If you have the book: read this effect now. If you don't have the book: decide if you have $30 to hand, and then buy the book...! |
landmark Inner circle within a triangle 5194 Posts |
Wow that Aragon trick is pretty impressive. Thanks for the link.
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All proceeds to Open Heart Magic charity. |
JH5magic Regular user 130 Posts |
@Tomas
Interestingly enough I was just reading through the Magic Café topic “Your most impossible looking self working card trick?” (see http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......m=206&6) which mentioned Larry Jennings’ “Impossible”and it piqued my curiosity… so it was great to see it! I will definitely be going back to my “Easy to Master Card Miracles Volume 6” to work through it! I was surprised that UnDo Influence fooled Penn & Teller! Don’t get me wrong… this is a wonderfully clever card trick, but I thought that P&T would have read Aronson’s works. Finally, Woody’s “Never Tell Them What's Going to Happen” is one of many effects that I have yet to ‘get to’ in his book… but I will be shortcutting to this one. @OWEN… maybe you can post Woody’s effect in the topic I mentioned above? It definitely would fit your criteria!! Thanks guys! John |
JH5magic Regular user 130 Posts |
Oh… and one side note pertaining to the title of Woody’s trick “Never Tell Them…” … I was lucky enough to attend the Dani DaOrtiz and Christian Engblom lecture last night. The psychology/thinking behind the magic was easily worth five times the price. But the point I wanted to mention was that Dani said he does not like to surprise his audience with what he intends to do… an example was his intro Torn & Restored card at any Number. He begins by saying… “Two of my favorite pieces of magic are the T&R card and finding a card a selected card at a selected number.” He then proceeds to have a card at a selected number remembered, then torn, and it returns restored at the original selected number in the deck. I am not saying that Woody disagrees with this approach, just that the title of his trick brought this to mind.
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brad12d3 Special user 526 Posts |
Quote:
On 2013-01-22 21:38, landmark wrote: No kidding.. I just ordered the book. I think I have an idea of how it works at the basics but there is definitely some that I don't know. I think I know what kind of math is going on but I don't know his specific deck arrangement. Also guessing that there is the possibility of a small deck adjustment just prior to the final decision of the card? Very clever and very fair looking even if you do have to make the adjustment. |
owen.daniel Inner circle England 1048 Posts |
Quote:
On 2013-01-22 22:03, JH5magic wrote: Aha... this indicates that you haven't yet read Woody's description of the effect. The title is in fact ironic; his patter is of the variety "any sensible magician wouldn't tell you this, but... ". To quote Woody directly (in the description of this effect) Quote:
There is one rule in magic that says you should never tell what will happen in a trick beforehand. This is because magicians use the element of surprise, and if people already knew what was going to happen, the tricks wouldn't be half as good, would they? So in fact Woody's patter fits exactly with the philosophy of Dani DaOrtiz! For those who have not heard about this particular effect, you can see it being performed in the Wizard Product Review (I never thought I'd direct anyone to them... but for the sake of seeing this effect performed, this cannot beat it): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndXNnGDgYq8. The trick is performed at around 13.50. With regards to how self working the effect is, sadly I perhaps emphasised its self working-ness too much: it does require some skill and practice... but nothing that a proficient magician would consider truly technical. Is it self working? No, it requires some skill. Is it difficult? No, not if you are comfortable with a deck of cards. Is it mathematical? Yes in the sense that it doesn't require any 'secret' movements of the cards (i.e. the positioning is done purely using simple... mathematically describable... movements)... but No... in the sense that the mathematics involved is not particularly deep... addition being the only mathematical principle involved... All the best Owen |
brad12d3 Special user 526 Posts |
Quote:
On 2013-01-23 18:07, owen.daniel wrote: You got my interest even more piqued than it already was. I figured there would be some deck adjustment depending on the numbers called. I guess I'll find out more about it when I get the book tomorrow. |
Woody Aragon New user Spain 40 Posts |
Hi!
Thank you for your comments about my acaan "Never tell...". I'm very happy a lot of people is excited with this trick! About the topic, I lecture usually about "how to hide math in math based tricks" ("Regarding mathemagic", in A Book in English, it's a summary of this segment in my lectures) and the trick I use always as example is "Maverick" (published in A Book in English, and also in my Penguin Live lecture), an Eric Jones favourite. It's a trick in which everything is "physical", and it's, not semiautomatic (a faro shuffle is involved in my prefered version), but highly mathematical. Regards! Woody |
brad12d3 Special user 526 Posts |
Woody,
A Book in English is fantastic! I love your ACAAN! I a few weeks ago I came up with a presentation for ACAAN that I really liked but didn't have a method that I thought fit it well. Well now that I have read your book I can say that yours fits the bill to a tee! You have many many fantastic ideas in your book. Thanks for sharing them. |
JH5magic Regular user 130 Posts |
Apologies for the delayed reply... I was at my son's Navy Corpsman graduation in San Antonio, TX. Now, I'm back home in frigid New Jersey.
@Owen - I did not get a chance to read "Never Tell Them What's Going to Happen", but your calling me out on it combined with Woody himself joining in the conversation sent me directly to the book/effect. @Woody - Diabolical! Thank you for tipping this to the magic community. I will be practicing it this week and hopefully get a chance to perform it either towards the end of this week or early the following week. Best regards to all! John |
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