Im putting the finishing touches on my mathematics magic show, and saw that there were no effects involving money. I started researching and found no effects that meet my criteria. Basicly, the method has to be mathematics and not some trick gadget, move or gimmick.

I understand that in the uk, we only have 5, 10 and 20 pound notes, while america has $1 bills which may be easier when adapting certain number magic to money. But even so, the tricks ive looked at adapting did not really work. It just confused the process by putting a symbol before a number. Therefore I'm looking for effects that are best performed with money and take advantage of the prop.

Any suggestions?

Our $2 bills also play well.

Perhaps "The Pennies" by Giovanni Livera?

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......m=218&73

Terri Rogers' Dollar Con is excellent and can be readily adapted to UK currency.

http://www.lybrary.com/dollar-con-p-73581.html

Mike

The pennies ive already got and abondended the coin part for something a lot better. Ive also changed pretty much everything about the routine.

The Teri Rodgers con feels a bit procedule, but it has given me an idea, thank you. Any further suggestions would be appreciated.

The trick that fooled Einstein would fit the bill perhaps ?

Ammar has a routine with bills where the plot is he is at the bank and the cashier counts the bills and he counts and there is a constant miscount until a surprising end. Was on one of his ETMM videos. Think it would only work with US currency but you might be able to adapt to UK with some thought.

Henry Evans in his on line, "Live" lecture at Penguin Magic had a nice money prediction effect using the Gilbreath Principle. An assorted stack of bills is divided between the magician and spectator and with spontaneous participation by the spectator the results are predicted in advance by the magician. Custom patter can be used in this effect or what Henry suggests.

John

Can I ask what age group the show is aimed at, and whether you intend to explain the mathematical principles involved to the audience?

Mike

Its targeted for adults. I will be doing it for family shows on cruise ships, WI etc. and everyone will be able to enjoy it, but the sheer nature of the effects means its an adult show.

I will be explaining two, maybe three effects out of the ten I plan to perform. The props to these effects will also be given away to everyone in attendance.

This is a magic show where there are no trick gadgets or sleights of any kind. Every trick is a genuine example of mathematics, some camouflaged in such a way that you will never see the math, but I want to be honest to my audience that every trick is achieved with math, even if they never know it.

Sounds like an interesting show.

Perhaps the missing dollar puzzle might suit.

Mike

What about the hotel bellboy/rental/tip trick? [I think it's also called 'Where id the dollar go?']

Norman Beck had a nice handling of it framed as a trick in Antinomy, but the basic puzzle has been around forever. It's even more confusing if you have money in hand sometimes.

Effect by David Jones called "Seriality", where you ask 3 members of the audience to call out loud serial numbers on their bills. You pretend to memorise all numbers, then everyone of spectators call out loud numbers from their serial numbers in random order, missing one number (whatever they choose) and you name missing number to everyone of them. Using simple mathematic, not mnemonic.

Many thanks for suggesting 'seriality' I hadent heard of it before. Having just watched the explantion.... Wow that is a lot of math to do in your head and numbers to remember while doing more math. Seriously, were looking at 24 sums one after another. I get that each sum is with small numbers, but if you make one mistake, just one youve messed up the trick. And being on stage, under pressure... I don't think that much math is a wise idea.

It goes to David Jones credit that he worked that trick out and actually performs it. I have new admiration for him, and it does suit my purpose. But I don't think I will be adding it to my set! Many thanks for the suggestion though.

You can do the Rings of Alexandria effect with bills. Larry supplied you with play money but you can do the effect with real money. The effect is normally done with a deck of cards. There are no calculations to do. The primitive looking device gives you the answer every time(the number of cards in the spectator's pocket and the sum of those cards or bill values). It's totally mathematical and instructions explain 5 variations and how and why the math works. You can read about it at http://www.barnowskymagic.com/ringsofalexandria.html

Paul

Stewart James had an effect involving coins. I can't for the life of me remember the exact name of it but I think it was something like "Dollar and Dimes" (?)

I was going to mention the principle (which is old) used in Pennies which I only saw now and realised is the same effect. I bellieve I first read it in Michael Weber's Life Savers?

Did you ever get your show up and going. What effects fid you end up with.

I just sended you a PM on David Jones's "Seriality" that should make it "quitte" easy

Try "All Heads Up" which uses US 16 US quarters. Spectator turns rows of mixed up coins over any way they want until all are in one pile. They all wind up heads up. It's in Kingdom of the Red. Totally self-working.
http://www.barnowskymagic.com

Larry