ESP Test - there must be an explanation but ...

[windsofchange]

Okay, this one has me stumped! Can anyone figure out how this works? Because so far it's worked every time!

http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/Pickover/esp2.html#aleph3

[Duck]

Pay attention to all the cards.

[Gwen]

Look carefully at the cards before the change, and then compare it to the cards after the change.

None of the cards are the same, including, presumably, the one you picked.

I got it right away a while back when I tried it after going to his website after reading one of his books. Good writing. We had a short email conversation.

[windsofchange]

Ooohhhhh ... now I get it!!!

Gee, I feel like such a maroon ... :blush:

(but you gotta admit it is a pretty good trick!)

[Mike Rosoft]

Nice trick. The first I saw it (on a different website), it took several attempts for me to discover what the trick was.

For fun have a look at the explanations (http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/Pickover/esp4.html) some people had offered.


Mike Rosoft

[Caine]

The explanations are extra funny when someone claims that the ESP test got it wrong as some point. Who the hell can't remember a card for a few seconds? A goldfish?

[pob14]

If you liked that one, you'll love this one:

http://www.hoffmanmagic.com/interact.php

See how fast you can figure this one out.

[Agenda07]

If you liked that one, you'll love this one:

http://www.hoffmanmagic.com/interact.php

See how fast you can figure this one out.

Nice. Took me a while to work it out though. :)

[windsofchange]

Hmm, that one I couldn't figure out either - but in this case, because it's not picking up *any* correct answers! What am I doing, er, right? ;)

[wjs3]

Are you doing the math correctly? For instance if you pick 77 as your 2 digit number--

add 7+7=14
then subtract 77-14=63

It's a crafty little trick

WJS3

[windsofchange]

Right, but it didn't seem to matter what number I was looking it, none of the symbols that came up matched the one I was looking at.

But even so, okay, let's say the # you pick comes out to 63. How does the "magic ball" pick that one (assuming it works)? :confused:

[tensorproduct]

For any two digit number, performing the operation described will result in a multiple of 9. If you look at the list, every ninth symbol is the same.

Say, you pick X = 10a + b

Where X is your number, a is the ten-digit and b is the unit digit. So, for X = 46, a = 4, b = 6

Now (10a + b) - (a + b) = (10a - a) + (b - b)
= 9a

[windsofchange]

Hang on, let me try it.

Okay, but that should mean that the symbol he has for every multiple of 9 on the list should be the same, and it's not.

I'm still :confused:! (but then, math is not really my forte!)

[tensorproduct]

Okay, but that should mean that the symbol he has for every multiple of 9 on the list should be the same, and it's not.


It needn't be for 90 and 99 as they are two high to be the result of teh operation, but it holds true for every other multiple of nine.

[Caine]

If you liked that one, you'll love this one:

http://www.hoffmanmagic.com/interact.php

See how fast you can figure this one out.

That one is so easy I had it figured out before even clicking on the magic ball for the first time.

The card one is better (a bit anyway).

[pob14]

That one is so easy I had it figured out before even clicking on the magic ball for the first time.

The card one is better (a bit anyway).

I think it may depend on how math-oriented you are. If you're looking for a mathematical explanation, the crystal-ball one is easy to figure out. Conversely, if you're not math-literate at all, you may actually screw it up (hi, windsofchange :D ). So there may be a somewhat narrow range of people it really works for.

The other one uses better misdirection. Since you pick from a group of things to click on, it gets you thinking that your choice has something to do with what the computer does. On the other hand, if you really look at the cards, and change your mind once or twice, the trick is transparent (except, apparently, to a couple of people who left comments :banghead:).

So each may be a good trick for a given spectator.

[Aristophanes]

they replace all the cards.

it starts off with: king heart, jack club, king spade, queen diamond, queen, club, jack diamond.

then you click on an eye, and you get: king diamond, queen spade, jack heart, king club, queen heart.

[Z500]

king diamond
\m/

[Arch]

Nice trick. The first I saw it (on a different website), it took several attempts for me to discover what the trick was.

For fun have a look at the explanations (http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/Pickover/esp4.html) some people had offered.


Mike Rosoft

I like this one!
I believe you are able to determine which card I picked by examining my eye movement (point of reference - eyeball) and card location?


Heh heh, how exactly can someone determine eye movements through a computer monitor? lol!

[RAFH]

I like this one!
I believe you are able to determine which card I picked by examining my eye movement (point of reference - eyeball) and card location?


Heh heh, how exactly can someone determine eye movements through a computer monitor? lol!

Magneto-Optical interferrometry!

[lpetrich]

Actually, there are two possible outcomes, though they work the same way:

Initial: Kh Jc Ks Qd Qc Jd
Final 1: Qh Kc Jh Qs Kd
Final 2: Kd Qs Jh Kc Qh

This card trick works by indirection. When you select a card, your thoughts are directed to it and not to the other cards, so you do not have a good enough memory of them when the server shows the allegedly remaining cards.

Likewise, the number-guessing trick also works by indirection. The calculation you perform on your 2-digit number yields a multiple of 9 from 9 itself to 81, and every one of those numbers gets the same symbol in the table, though that would be not apparent from how all the other numbers get randomly-assigned symbols in that table.

[windsofchange]

Conversely, if you're not math-literate at all, you may actually screw it up (hi, windsofchange :D ).

Hmm, that could explain all those overdraft fees in my checking account ... ;)

[AdamWho]

Funny how somethings keep coming around. Note: 2003

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=65541&highlight=card