Magical Mathematics
"Magical Mathematics reveals the secrets of amazing, fun-to-perform card tricks--and the profound mathematical ideas behind them--that 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. For example, the Gilbreath principle--a fantastic effect where the cards remain in control despite being shuffled--is found to share an intimate connection with the Mandelbrot set. Other card tricks link to the mathematical secrets of combinatorics, graph theory, number theory, topology, the Riemann hypothesis, and even Fermat's last theorem. Diaconis and Graham are mathematicians as well as skilled performers with decades of professional experience between them. In this book they share a wealth of conjuring lore, including some closely guarded secrets of legendary magicians. Magical Mathematics covers the mathematics of juggling and shows how the I Ching connects to the history of probability and magic tricks both old and new. It tells the stories--and reveals the best tricks--of the eccentric and brilliant inventors of mathematical magic.
Stats for nerds
2recommend
5mentions
4people
2020years
60% recommend40% neutral
What Hacker News says
- Perci is a fascinating and very accomplished guy. His book "Magical Mathematics" is really interesting. There's actually a long history of math and comp sci folks who were very good magicians. Alex Elmsley, Bob Hummer, Martin Gardner are a few other to check out if you're into that stuff. (says the guy who has spent the last few days alternating between hacking and vainly trying to master the perfect Faro shuffle... ).
- Magical Mathematics is great! Dense actually, walks the "layperson" through proving how some complex card magic works with combinatorics. Really fun read, some mind bending stuff in there! The math is harder than one would expect the cover...
- This is a beautiful book, especially if he or she is into magic: Magical Mathematics: The Mathematical Ideas That Animate Great Magic Tricks by Persi Diaconis, Ron Graham
- Any of his books worth reading?
Group Representations In Probability And Statistics
Magical Mathematics: The Mathematical Ideas That Animate Great Magic Tricks — winner of the 2013 Euler Book Prize
- Wow, very sad to hear this. I am a big fan of Professor Graham. I owned many of his books - Magical Mathematics, Rudiments of Ramsey Theory, Concrete Mathematics, Handbook of Combinatorics. I attended an AMS conference in San Diego a while back and asked him to sign my Erdos on Graphs book after listening to his talk. Professor Chung happened to be around and he waved her over to sign my book too.
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