This is a little $3.95 trick that uses 7 cards with
100 numbers spread over the 7 cards.
You have the spec think of one of the numbers and then set aside any cards that have their number on it.
You then glance at the set aside cards,add together
the first number on each set aside card and the total is their thought of number.
It works on a binary sort system.Not being a math wiz I am looking for a formula where I can use words
instead of numbers.
The first number on each card,which is the binary key
would be coded say 1=wonderful and so on for whatever
the first number of each card is you could know it by a word that sounds like the number.
The problem I have is when you do this with just numbers you add up the key numbers say the total is 37 and you know the number,but if you replace the numbers with words even if you know the number the word appears in a different place on each card.
Any formula to count down to where the word would be?

Thanks
Rick

Why not use a mnemonic system?

So using a standard system 37 could be "mug". (And 1 could be "toe" rather than "wonderful").

It would then be easy to get from the total to the word

If you are not familiar with mnemonic systems, there are plenty of books around - it would not take long for you to immediately pair 100 numbers to 100 words

The short answer is you want to look up "Horrors" from Annemann's Practical Mental Magic.

The long(er) answer is you want a key card - one that lists your words by number. If you use five cards (plus your key), you can have up to 32 different words - more than enough for this kind of effect.

:pepper:

You can arrange the words on each card so that you can detect the selected one by calculating the total number.
For example, if the total number is 17, it means the word is on Card-1. In this case, you devide 17 by 2 and get 8 (plus remainder 1). You add remainder to 8 and get the answer 9. The selectead word is 9th word on Card-1.

Only exception is the cases where the toal is 4,8 or 12.

Thanks for the inspiration. I got this idea after reading this thread.

Hideo Kato

Mr. Kato,
I think you did it!!!
The card with the key number on top that is the same as the remainder is the card that has the choosen word
in the right location(added numbers divided by two plus the remainder!)
This is very strong now.You can show what looks like 100's of words on 7 cards,have the spec set aside
up to 5 cards with 40-50 words on each card,look down and tell them with no fishing exactly what their thought of word is!!

Thank You
Rick
P.S. keep me informed on any applications with this if you would be so kind.

Best Regards,
Rick

I posted an solution for the effect in Secret Session.

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......37&0

Hideo Kato

Thank you Mr. Kato.

Rick

I have posted a possible code here.

Cheers - El Lamo

Rgranville gave a great suggestion.I just looked up "Horrors" in Annemans and the color codeing of the cards plus pxs suggestion of useing a mnemonic system for the words would allow you devine the number code from 10 feet away by looking at the color of the cards the spec pulled aside.
To be totally clean learn a mnemonic word for 100 #s
or do it the easy way with a key card.

The idea originally for me was to keep it at 100 words.

Several of you have posted great ideas,thank you.

Myster, why do you want to use 100 words?
I think it will take too much time for spectator to find his selection among 50 words. He need to do it 7 times.

In theory, it might be more mysteriuos to guess one word among 100 than guessing it among 32. But, (big BUT), can it be a good show?

I feel 32 words are just fine. Or 64 words if you insist.

Hideo Kato

As long as we're being technical (and this is the place for it, isn't it? ), if you're using n cards, you can use up to n^2 - 1 words - that's 15 words with 4 cards, 31 words with 5 cards, 63 words with 6 cards, 127 words with 7 cards.

Frankly, I use 15 related words, much like Annemann's Horrors, but I like to use animals. I use four cards set up for the binary code, and a fifth with all fifteen animals in three columns of five each - no numbers on any of the cards. But once I know the number I want, it's simple to glance (openly) at the key card and get the word I want. 1 through 5 is the first column, 6 through 10 is the second, and 11 through 15 is the third. You never have to count more than five, and if you can count backwards, you never have to count more than three.

:cucumber:

No, we can use 2^n words using n cards. If n=4 we have 0th number to 15th number. In case the selected word is not on every card, it means 0th word was selected.

Hideo kato

Yes, you can have 2^n words if you're willing to number one of the words "0", and have it not be on any card.

:carrot:

Like I said I'm not a math guy. You guys are over my head on a lot of this,but thank you.
For me I'm just trying to copy the order and system on the 7 cards from Number Mystery because I'm not sure how to rework it with 32 or 50 numbers.

If one of you would be so kind as to put into layman terms how to use 32 or 50 words with the binary code of key numbers on the top first row of each card that would be great.

I'm trying to get this I'm not dumb,I just work from the other half of the brain when it come to math theory and applications.

The color code from Anneman for discerning the code numbers is great.

Thanks for bearing with me guys I know the answeres are right there I just need it simplified a little.

Rick

For 32 numbers, key numbers are 1,2,4,8,16.
For 64 numbers, key numbers are 1,2,4,8,16,32.

Hideo Kato

I have posted another solution here.

Cheers - El Lamo