Do You Believe In Magic. Pretty Wierd little find

[Ben-Nice]

Just do as the instructions say, it works everytime. If someone knows how it works i'd be grateful to know because I can't figure it out

http://www.milaadesign.com/wizardy.html

 

[Tahir2]

The numbers will always be the "x" sign e.g. 9, 18...54 etc.

No magic, just mathematics.

Where x = the symbol corresponding to multiples of nine.

 

[OpenGL guy]

It's a simple trick. Say your number is X = 10*a + b where "a" and "b" are the digits of your number. Then X - (a + b) = 10*a - b - a - b = 9*a which is always divisible by 9. If you notice, every time you play the game, all the numbers divisible by 9 have the same symbol. However! To trick you, they change the symbols each time, so it's not apparent that they are playing this gag.

Old trick!

Edit: Ugh I can't spell! Managed to spell 'divisible' wrong twice!

 

[kyleb]

It acutally changes the sign ever time to keep people from figuring that out so easy. But yeah, just look at what sign is listed for whatever number you came up with and all the numbers with that same sign are the only possible solutions.

*pardon my redundancy.

 

[Ben-Nice]

It's a simple trick. Say your number is X = 10*a + b where "a" and "b" are the digits of your number. Then X - (a + b) = 10*a - b - a - b = 9*a which is always divisble by 9. If you notice, every time you play the game, all the numbers divisble by 9 have the same symbol. However! To trick you, they change the symbols each time, so it's not apparent that they are playing this gag.

Old trick!

Damn you guys are too smart . Now I feel dumb lol

 

[digitalwanderer]

Ok, here's one for ya to mystify...

Pick a number 1-10, but DON'T TELL ME! Now take that number and double it, add 4, divide it by two, and now subtract the number you first thought of.

The number you have now is 2, right?

Believe it or not, that one actually impressed some people.

 

[Althornin]

Ok, here's one for ya to mystify...

Pick a number 1-10, but DON'T TELL ME! Now take that number and double it, add 4, divide it by two, and now subtract the number you first thought of.

The number you have now is 2, right?

Believe it or not, that one actually impressed some people.

So...
(2x+4)/2) -x =2?
wow!

lololol

 

[digitalwanderer]

Yup, and I actually told that to people and had them be amazed by it.

 

[KimB]

Some of these little number games are pretty fun, though I like ones that are significantly more complex, though I haven't seen any in a long time. I suppose I may find them less interesting now, I guess....

 

[Guden Oden]

Problem is Chal, the numbers games you find fun will just leave me confused, befuddled and irritated.

The initial gag thing had me pretty stumped the first two times I played it. I thought the first time it 'guessed' correctly that I involuntarily pointed out the symbol by hovering the mouse on it (coz I tend to do that), so next try I made SURE not to have the pointer anywhere near the one I was looking at.

I felt pretty weirded out when it despite this precaution 'guessed' correctly. Then I picked two numbers that by more or less coincidence both equalled nine, and noticed it kept changing the symbols every time. So that unfortunately dispelled the magic for me. But it was fun for a while there!

I guess I shouldn't try to go all freudian on me and analyze the fact the first number I picked had the corresponding image of two figures sixty-nining each other...


Thanks for a great trick! (Even though I was a little too smart for it, heh.)

 

[KimB]

Problem is Chal, the numbers games you find fun will just leave me confused, befuddled and irritated.

Hehe, well, the simple numbers games I'm talking about are exactly the same as the one posted, with the little exception that they have more steps. The really fun ones also tend to do a fair amount of math between the digits (as this one does) in order to make it a bit harder to figure out why they work.

 

[Tahir2]

The way I figured it out was by seeing a pattern with the numbers and having prior experience to one of these type of tricks (different execution and result but similar principle).

I am very bad at mathematics too. Don't tell me you know that already, I am sensitive.

 

[kyleb]

I guess I shouldn't try to go all freudian on me and analyze the fact the first number I picked had the corresponding image of two figures sixty-nining each other...

They are all Zodiacal symbols, the one you mention being Cancer.

 

[arjan de lumens]

It could be quite fascinating - and outright spooky - if someone could manage to make a version of this game work reliably based on some sort of psychometric criterion (making it appear to be actually reading your mind) rather than just a simple mathematical identity of the kind that the good people here spot in <2 seconds.

Probably won't happen anytime soon, though.

 

[KimB]

Oh, psychosomatic games are fun, too!

One of my favorites asks the question, "What do cows drink?" Often this question is padded by a number of questions about white objects, or about the color of white objects. But I think that most people respond "Milk" without thinking anyway.

 

[rashly]

Baby cows drink milk, right?

An interesting math paradox is the Monty Hall problem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem

Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?

Most people say it's a 50/50 chance, but it's not. You are twice as likely to get the car if you switch than you are if you stay with your original door.

 

[KimB]

Baby cows drink milk, right?

Ah, but then they're called calves

 

[K.I.L.E.R]

I know something that will blow your mind.

Highlight to read.
dy/dx e^x = e^x

 

[Fred]

Heres a fun one.. Pull a book on your shelf out and look at the ISBN number ( a 10 digit number)

Multiply the first digit by 10, the second digit by 9, the third by 8... Add them up and mod by 11.

What do you get?

I claim you will get *zero*.. In fact, interchange any two digits, and you will still get zero.

 

[KimB]

Heres a fun one.. Pull a book on your shelf out and look at the ISBN number ( a 10 digit number)

Multiply the first digit by 10, the second digit by 9, the third by 8... Add them up and mod by 11.

What do you get?

I claim you will get *zero*.. In fact, interchange any two digits, and you will still get zero.

Interesting. Tried it on a couple of books and the first part worked. However, I did not get zero after interchanging some digits.