1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910824968203321

Autore

Diaconis Persi

Titolo

Magical mathematics : the mathematical ideas that animate great magic tricks / / Persi Diaconis and Ron Graham ; with a foreword by Martin Gardner

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Princeton, : Princeton University Press, 2012

ISBN

1-283-25604-5

9786613256041

1-4008-3938-6

Edizione

[Course Book]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (259 p.)

Classificazione

SN 300

Altri autori (Persone)

GrahamRon <1950->

Disciplina

793.8/5

Soggetti

Card tricks - Mathematics

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Foreword -- Preface -- Chapter 1. Mathematics in the Air -- Chapter 2. In cycles -- Chapter 3. Is This Stuff Actually Good for Anything? -- Chapter 4. Universal Cycles -- Chapter 5. From the Gilbreath Principle to the Mandelbrot Set -- Chapter 6. Neat Shuffles -- Chapter 7. The Oldest Mathematical Entertainment? -- Chapter 8. Magic in the Book of Changes -- Chapter 9. What Goes Up Must Come Down -- Chapter 10. Stars of Mathematical Magic (And some of the best tricks in the book) -- Chapter 11. Going Further -- Chapter 12. On Secrets -- Notes -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

"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"--