The Maths & Computing Magic The Maths & Computing Magic Show Show

Peter McOwan

Queen Mary, University of London

Tonight....

Maths, Computing &

• Astonishment & classics of magic!

• The magician’s code!

• ‘secret’ + performance

• Principles to create your own

Torn and restored card trick

Mind control...you will allall think of the same

card!

MoreShuffling…

Your card has been torn….

????

Here is how...The princess card trick

Trick dates back to 1905 and is credited to American magician Henry Hardin

What does it have to do with your MP3 player?

Masker

MaskedSounds

Mp3 coding for music

Brain Experiments!

Eyes & seek appwww.qappsonline.com

The Piano Trick(aka the invisable palm)...

The Piano Trick

• Algorithm and user interface

• Secret 7+1 =8

• Simple algorithm hidden in Misdirection!

The importance of understanding humans…

The perfect shuffle

Brett Morris – PhD computer memory patent

Body language experiment...

R0 B0

R2B2

R1B1

Algebra- Lets call them...

R0 B0

R2B2

R1B1

B0 = R2+B2

R0 = R1+B1

(R1+B1)+R1+R2=(R2+B2)+B1+B2

R0+R1+R2(26 reds)B0+B1+B2(26 blks)

2R1+B1+R2=R2+B1+2B2

R1=B2

Classic of magic… Cutting a person in 0.5

First Public sawing-P T Selbit 1921(Stage name of Percy Thomas Tibbles ) Finsbury Park

13 People

12 People

How is it done?

Watch the heights as 12- 13!

Research Questions….Research Questions….

•How big a change can we make for it to still be ‘invisible’ to the audience?•Does it work in 2D?

Apply Artificial Intelligence to solve the problem….

For books, links, videos and the ISSFor books, links, videos and the ISS www.cs4fn.org

http://teachinglondoncomputing.org/resources/