A magician divides a deck of cards into two equal piles, counts down from the top of
Question:
A magician divides a deck of cards into two equal piles, counts down from the top of the first pile to the seventh card, and shows it to the audience without looking at it herself. These seven cards are replaced face down in the same order on top of the first pile. She then picks up the other pile and deals the top three cards up in a row in front of her. If the first card is a six, then she starts counting with “six” and counts to ten, thus placing four more cards on this pile as shown. In turn, the magician does the same for the next two cards. If the card is a ten or a face card, then no additional cards are added. The remainder of this pile is placed on top of the first pile.
Next, the magician adds the values of the three face-up cards 16 1 10 1 7 for this illustration2 and counts down in the first deck this number of cards. That card is the card that was originally shown to the audience. Explain why this trick works.
Step by Step Answer:
There are 26 cards in each pile The hidden card is 7 cards down in the pile ...View the full answer
