Magical Mathematics The Mathematical Ideas That Animate Great Magic Tricks [Paperback]

Magical Mathematicsreveals the secrets of fun-to-perform card tricksand the profound mathematical ideas behind themthat 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.

Diaconis and Graham tell the storiesand reveal the best tricksof the eccentric and brilliant inventors of mathematical magic. The book 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 oldest mathematical trickand much more.

"Winner of the 2013 Euler Book Prize, Mathematical Association of America""Honorable Mention for the 2012 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Popular Science & Popular Mathematics, Association of American Publishers"Persi Diaconisis professor of mathematics and statistics at Stanford University, and a former professional magician.Ron Grahamis professor of mathematics and computer science at the University of California, San Diego, and a former professional juggler. [F]ascinating. . . .Magical Mathematics[is] a dazzling tour of math-based magic tricks. . . . Lovers of recreational mathematics, and especially fans of the late Martin Gardner, who contributed the foreword, will find many pleasures inMagical Mathematics. And while exposing magic secrets in a book intended for the general public may raise hackles among some old-guard magicians, exploring the math behind these tricks will, in truth, only deepen the mystery. For, as the authors remind us, sometimes the methods are as magical as the tricks themselves. lӛ