One In 52
PAUL Pick a card, as they say, any card. INT. A MEDIUM-SIZED LECTURE THEATRE – DAY PAUL, the lecturer, is standing at the front of an almost-full lecture room. The audience is almost entirely male. But PAUL
Swingers
This post looks at Mathematical Thinking, which we define as “The belief, especially characteristic of scientists, that events can be understood, described, and predicted using mathematical equations; thinking founded on this belief.” Sometimes it’s a good thing,
Magos
Posted by David in Mathemagical Thinking On February 11, 2019
Magic and science have a surprising amount in common. They are both about telling a story, and constructing a narrative of events. In one, the story appears magical, in the other it appears mathematical, but that difference
Automatic Writing
Posted by David in Mathemagical Thinking On January 30, 2019
On the topic of gullibility, here is a story that we like to share with our banker friends during our “seminars” on magical thinking (much better paid than real magic shows and the audience is less demanding).
Throat Reading
Magic brings out the gullibility in people. This is good and is bad. It is good for magicians. But it is bad if powerful people are dumb. We can therefore use magic to figure out, to some
A Trick With Horses
I am going to teach you a trick with horses. You can do it at home if you have enough horses. This old trick was famously done by TV’s Derren Brown. We will run a with race
Houdini – The Master Of Topology
Little known fact – in which we specialize – Houdini could have been a great mathematician. Specifically a topologist. Escapology, topology, there are great similarities. Topology is the mathematical study of shapes and spaces. I don’t know
A Trick With Dice
Ten is bigger than five, and five is bigger than one. And so ten is bigger than one. Basic stuff. In symbols (we mathematicians like symbols, more than we like numbers): If A > B and B
Magic Is A Sufficiently Advanced Technology
Posted by Paul in Mathemagical Thinking On August 31, 2018
I have a saying, it is “Magic is indistinguishable from a sufficiently advanced technology,” which is very close to something Arthur C. Clarke said which is “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Ok, I stole
A Trick With Money
Everyone loves money! Everyone loves magic! Everyone loves mathematics! Sadly not all of this is true. Actually most of it is not true. Imagine how difficult it must be for David and me to earn a living.