Hey Ray: Bringing Back Math Magic
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- In one of the very first Hey Ray! segments, I showed you a magic trick with cards that was just math disguised as magic. I think it is time to bring back some math magic with what I like to call RAY MIX of the principles that made the original Math Magic Trick work.
Have an audience member make three piles of three cards, face down. They can choose any cards they want. Now have them pick a pile and look at the bottom card without showing you.
Set the pile that your audience member's card is in on top of the other two piles. DO NOT SHUFFLE.
Now have them name any card that can be found in a deck of cards, not jokers. Elizabeth chose the King of Hearts.
You now spell the card while dealing one card from the top for each letter.
K-I-N-G
Place the rest of the cards on top.
O-F
Place the rest of the cards on top
H-E-A-R-T-S
Place the rest of the cards on top.
Now spell "Magic"
M-A-G-I-C.
The card your audience member chose at the beginning is the card at letter "C"!
So, how did this work? It is some really complex math. Math is a great prediction tool. We use it to predict the weather every day.
This trick is using math to predict where something will be in a grid. We do that by forcing it to that spot with the spelling and stacking of the cards. That creates a system that pushes the card to the same spot every time! Our grid and our math are just disguised by the cards and the idea of magic.
There are some ways to change this up, too. Instead of having your audience member name any card in the deck. You can have them pick a card from what is left over after they deal their three piles of cards.
If you want to do a different math-based magic trick, you can try the original card trick I did.