| Description |
xii, 244 pages : illustrations (some colour) ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
1. Mathematics in the Air -- Royal Hummer -- Back to Magic -- 2. In Cycles -- The Magic of de Bruijn Sequences -- Going Further -- 3. Is this Stuff Actually Good for Anything? -- Robotic Vision -- Making Codes -- To the Core of Our Being -- This de Bruijn Stuff Is Cool but Can It Get You a Job? -- 4. Universal Cycles -- Order Matters -- A Mind-reading Effect -- Universal Cycles Again -- 5. From the Gilbreath Principle to the Mandelbrot set -- The Gilbreath Principle -- The Mandelbrot Set -- 6. Neat Shuffles -- A Mind-reading Computer -- A Look Inside Perfect Shuffles -- A Look Inside Monge and Milk Shuffles -- A Look Inside Down-and-Under Shuffles -- All the Shuffles Are Related -- 7. The Oldest Mathematical Entertainment? -- The Miracle Divination -- How Many Magic Tricks Are There? -- 8. Magic in the Book of Changes -- Introduction to the Book of Changes -- Using the I Ching for Divination -- Probability and the Book of Changes -- Some Magic (Tricks) -- Probability and the I Ching -- 9. What Goes up Must Come Down -- Writing It Down -- Getting Started in Juggling -- 10. Stars of Mathematical Magic (and Some of the Best Tricks in the Book) -- Alex Elmsley -- Bob Neale -- Henry Christ -- Stewart James -- Charles Thornton Jordan -- Bob Hummer -- Martin Gardner -- 11. Going Further -- 12. On Secrets. |
| Summary |
Magical Mathematics reveals the secrets of fun-to-perform card tricks--and the profound mathematical ideas behind them--that will astound even the most accomplished magician. Persi Diaconis and Ron Graham provide easy, step-by-step instructions for each trick, explaining how to set up the effect and offering tips on what to say and do while performing it. Each card trick introduces a new mathematical idea, and varying the tricks in turn takes readers to the very threshold of today's mathematical knowledge. Diaconis and Graham tell the stories--and reveal the best tricks--of the eccentric and brilliant inventors of mathematical magic. The book exposes old gambling secrets through the mathematics of shuffling cards, explains the classic street-gambling scam of three-card Monte, traces the history of mathematical magic back to the oldest mathematical trick--and much more. |
| Subject |
Mathematics.
|
|
Magic tricks.
|
|
Magic tricks. (OCoLC)fst01005507
|
|
Mathematics. (OCoLC)fst01012163
|
| Added Author |
Graham, Ronald L., 1935- author.
|
|
Gardner, Martin, 1914-2010, author of introduction, etc.
|
| ISBN |
0691169772 (paperback) |
|
9780691169774 (paperback) |
|
