The Magic Square - Tricking Your Way to Mental Superpowers (3 page)

Copy out the above square a few dozen times. Do it. Do it now.

STEP 2

Now to fill in the extra grey squares....

Take their random number (to keep this consistent with all the other examples let's just go with 35 again) and subtract 21. This will give you your first Magic Number for the first grey square.

35 - 21 = 14.

You now fill in each grey box by counting up in sequence. 14, 15, 16, 17.

Box A gets 14.
Box B gets 15.
Box C gets 16.
Box D gets 17.

It's incredible that such a simple mechanism can result in such an impressive effect, is it not?

To simplify the subtraction, because reducing a number by 21 can sometimes be hard to do in a pinch, simply subtract 20 then subtract 1. Almost everybody alive can do this sum quickly by breaking it into these two smaller parts. While it may seem silly for me to point this out, you may be surprised how much easier it is to break it down. There's no point making it harder than it needs to be now is there? You're already juggling numbers. Keep it simple, stupid.

Let's try another one, just to be sure.

What would you do if the number they chose was 26?

26 - 20 - 1 = 5

So box A gets 5.
Box B gets 6.
Box C gets 7.
Box D gets 8.

And all together, it looks like this:

Add in the number sequence you learned just a minute ago (11, 8, 2, etc) and your magic square skills are now complete, and you are ready to show the world.

QUOTE

Thinking so you don't have to

1-50.
Constraining their choice of number is the simplest way to start. Ideally, you want them to come up with a number between 22 and 50. A number smaller than this and you'll have to go into negative numbers (see below), and with a number larger than this the secret starts to reveal itself. I usually ask people to think of a number between 1 and 50, and if they say a number below 22 and I don't want to go into negative numbers, I will say something like "Actually, make it a bit harder. Go a bit higher."

Negative Numbers
If you want to make the magic square more interesting, you can make handy use of negative numbers. If they named their random number as 5, you could use -16 in the first of the 4 magic boxes, then -15, then -14, and -13. It will all add up correctly, and it does add an interesting new level to your magical squareishness.

Think of a number
A trick before the trick. If you ask someone to think of a number between 1 and 50, then you make a single guess, you have a 1 in 50 chance of getting it right. This means if you ask 50 people, you should get it right once. When you get it wrong the 49 times, just go straight into your magic square as if that was the plan anyway and you getting it wrong is incidental. If you get it right, just grin and say something like "I knew that would work on you", and it looks like you just read their mind or planted the number in. Brilliant. This is a great (and stupid) trick on its own, but it can very easily be used to get someone to come up with a number for your magic square.

Random.
Write the numbers down in a random order, not line by line. If they watch you write in first all the static numbers (11,8,2,1,12,7,4,6,9,5,10,3), leaving the 4 spaces for the final consecutive numbers, your moment will be busted.

Scribble.
When revealing how many directions add up to their chosen number, feel free to scribble the lines directly onto the square. It's fun sometimes to watch the numbers succumb to and vanish beneath line after line of scribble, and it also stops anyone from working out how you did it afterwards. It's the ink equivalent of burning the trick at the end. I even once ate the paper while someone was still in shock about the square they had just seen me produce from their random number.

Repetition.
They will ask you to do it again. But once is enough. You don't need to perform this more than once for it to be impressive. When your "willing participant" (aka, friend) asks you to "Do it again!", respectfully decline. Repetition is the death of most magic. Don't fall into this familiar giddy trap. It's only natural to want to more of the praise they will undoubtedly lavish upon you, but repeating the trick is not the answer. Don't let them see behind the curtain, don't do the same trick more than once for the same person, and don't say "How high?" when they tell you to jump. Once is enough.

Explaining what just happened.
They will ask you how you did it. Don't reveal your secrets. See the next section, "Some Bullshit Explanations", for some fun ways to answer this question. You've got them eating out of your hand, so milk the moment. You earned it, buddy.

Practice.
Before showing this trick to anyone, practice it dozens of times. It's the only way to perform it flawlessly every time. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice practice practice.

Throw in and correct mistakes
Only the expert tightrope walker can make it look like she is constantly about to fall. She wobbles, makes mistakes, and has the audience on the edge of their seat thinking it could all go wrong with a split-second lack of concentration. With this in mind, put some numbers in the wrong boxes and promptly scribble them out for the correct numbers. It will make the final reveal all the more impressive.
It could have gone wrong at any moment, and almost did several times!

Climb into the saddle. Grab the reins. You're up.

Performing The Magic Square, Step by Step

YOU:
Hey buddy, think of a number between 1 and 50.

FRIEND:
OK. I've got one.

YOU:
37?

FRIEND:
No, 39! Close!

YOU:
OK, watch this...

[You grab your pen and a bit of paper, while you work out that 39 - 20 is 19, minus another 1 is 18. Magic Number = 18. You write 18 in the correct spot, and start filling in the other numbers in a random order. When you've filled in all 16 squares, hand them the magic square and look proud. They will have no idea what's happening.]

FRIEND:
I have no idea what's happening.

YOU:
Check this out... The top row, 11 + 8 + 18 + 2 adds up to your number... as does every other horizontal row...

FRIEND:
OK.

YOU:
And every vertical column does too! See? 11 + 19 + 4 + 5...? 8 + 1 + 20 + 10...? 18 + 12 + 6 + 3...? 2 + 7 + 9 + 21...? It's all your number. This square IS your number!

FRIEND:
What...

YOU:
Let me show you what else it does... the diagonals... the corners... each block of 4... each mirror...

FRIEND:
You're an alien.

YOU:
[GRINNING]

FRIEND:
My children's children will be hearing about this. I want to have your babies.

Lies. Damn lies. I don't want realism. I want magic!

When you start using this trick to impress everyone you ever meet, you will have people begging you for an explanation.

Do you want to teach them how to do it themselves? Do you want to give a magician-style answer and keep the mystery? Do you want to pretend you have superpowers? Do you want to pretend to be a maths genius?

Here are some suggestions:

"I mostly just go with my gut, and check it as I go along, but mostly I just go with the numbers that feel right..."

"I just see it in my head, I don't really know how I do it."

"While it does look good, I guess it's not that impressive. I've been able to do it ever since I was a kid."

"Perception is rooted in the back of our minds. It's inaccessible. I'm not really sure how I do it."

"Pythagoras said that number is the origin of all things, and certainly the law of number is the key that unlocks the secrets of the universe. A magic square seems to me to contain a lesson of great value in being a palpable instance of the symmetry of mathematics, throwing thereby a clear light upon the order that pervades the universe wherever we turn, in the infinitesimally small interrelations of atoms as well as in the immeasurable domain of the starry heavens, an order which, although of a different kind and still more intricate, is also traceable in the development of organised life, and even in the complex domain of human action."

"Wear the old coat and buy the new book."
- Austin Phelps

The Magic Square is part of the 'Fake Being Smart' series...

Why
actually
be smart, when you can just
fake it
. Only kidding.
(No I'm not.)
(Maybe...)

Other titles in this series so far include:

* The Memory Palace - Learn Anything and Everything (Starting With Shakespeare and Dickens)
Half an hour from the instant you start reading The Memory Palace you will be able to recite, forwards and backwards, the titles of all of Shakespeare's plays, then Dickens' novels too, for good measure. Through actual demonstration, you will have mastery of the Memory Palace technique that will allow you to do this with any topic of your choosing.
Marvellous.

* The Human Calendar - How To Calculate The Day For Any Date (In Your Head)
Like mentalists, magicians, and some autistic savants, in 'Human Calendar' you will learn the most unfathomable party trick of all. Someone tells you a date (their birthday, anniversary, historical event, or even dates into the future) and you announce, after a few seconds, the day of the week the date falls on. It's a seemingly untouchable level of
odd genius
, and with a bit of practice you can make it seem almost automatic.
Great
for making people gape at you.