Magical Mathematics : : the Mathematical Ideas That Animate Great Magic Tricks

Locations
Call Number: 793.85 Di
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	793.85 Di	4-week checkout	On Shelf

"Magical Mathematics reveals the secrets of amazing, 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. For example, the Gilbreath principle--a fantastic effect where the cards remain in control despite being shuffled--is found to share an intimate connection with the Mandelbrot set. Other card tricks link to the mathematical secrets of combinatorics, graph theory, number theory, topology, the Riemann hypothesis, and even Fermat's last theorem. Diaconis and Graham are mathematicians as well as skilled performers with decades of professional experience between them. In this book they share a wealth of conjuring lore, including some closely guarded secrets of legendary magicians. Magical Mathematics covers the mathematics of juggling and shows how the I Ching connects to the history of probability and magic tricks both old and new. It tells the stories--and reveals the best tricks--of the eccentric and brilliant inventors of mathematical magic. Magical Mathematics 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 thirteenth century and the oldest mathematical trick--and much more"-- Provided by publisher.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

eh submitted by DoodleBob on June 17, 2012, 7:39pm I thought this book had way to much explaining

Yeh! submitted by interstice on November 12, 2023, 10:10am I thought this book had a wonderful amount of explaining.
It is NOT just a "how-to" book for doing magic tricks. Those looking for a quick and dirty "just show me how to do some tricks" would best be served by looking elsewhere.

As it says in the subtitle, it is about how mathematical ideas allow one to do certain magic tricks. If you want a DEEP understanding of those connections, this is the book for you. If you want to understand how you can create your OWN variations on these tricks, then this is the book for you.

Having said that, note that some of the explanations are relatively simple concepts, but others DO go pretty deep. And that won't be in everyone's wheelhouse. On the other hand, that breadth means most people can probably find at least part of the book understandable.

Aside from magic, it also explores juggling, topics in the history of mathematics, and the mathematical connections between these tricks and important applications of these concepts in fields one would never imagine having anything in common. I found this last part among the most interesting parts of the book.