Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

aberdeenwriter · Jun 24, 2006, 04:13 AM

An Amazing Trick!

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/

Number Wizardry
Coast listener Sherry sent us a link to a fun Flash game created by milaadesign.com. Just choose a two digit number, carefully follow the rest of the onscreen instructions, and prepare to be amazed as the game magically finds the number you picked.

Click here to play.
http://www.milaadesign.com/wizardy.html

Can anyone figure out how or why this works? It baffles and absolutely amazes me.

Chuckit · 09:53 AM

Think about it a little bit.

12: 12 - (1+2) = 9
13: 13 - (1+3) = 9
21: 21 - (1+2) = 18
22: 22 - (2+2) = 18

With every one the number gets larger, you subtract one more, so only the tens make a difference. There are only nine possible final values. It just assigns the same symbol to all of those, so it's always right.

f1000 · 04:59 AM

The program is simply taking advantage of the fact that you have a tell.

Hint: Note where you leave the cursor as you stare at the designated icon.

EDIT: Oops, spoke too soon. Chuckit's right.

IFLY2HIGH · Jun 24, 2006, 07:00 AM

And there are several copies of the same images at the correct numbers no matter what you pick across the board. Waste of time imo...

Jun 24, 2006, 05:24 PM

Wow, I can't believe these things still amaze people.

spauldingg · Jun 24, 2006, 05:48 PM

This makes some sense, that it narrows it down to how many numbers/symbols to choose from. (Nine) But out of those nine why does "it" always get my one of nine number/symbol correct?

Chuckit · Jun 24, 2006, 05:54 PM

Because while there are nine numbers, there's only one symbol between them — it's the same for all nine. Do it again and check the multiples of nine and you'll see they're all the same symbol.

skalie · Jun 24, 2006, 06:00 PM

nice graphics

macfantn · Jun 24, 2006, 06:14 PM

I need a good prank to play on a friend something to do to him or his house, nothing harmful just something amusing. any ideas?

spauldingg · Jun 24, 2006, 06:30 PM

Chuckit, please excuse me, I have always sucked at math. But before I embarrassed myself posting here I tried it five times. It gave me a correct and different symbol/number every time. It would have to be totally random considering there is no input on my part. If I was about to roll a nine sided die but before hand I "wished it to be seven" (no matter how I came up with that number, subtracting from two digits from a larger number... whatever) it still would only have a one in nine chance of it coming up seven. If I rolled the dice five times, and "wished" a different number each time, it would still be the same odds.

Sorry, I shouldn't be worrying about something so trivial, but it is making me nuts.

aberdeenwriter · Jun 24, 2006, 07:01 PM

Originally Posted by macfantn

I need a good prank to play on a friend something to do to him or his house, nothing harmful just something amusing. any ideas?

How about the one where he has to find the thing in an online photo of a room that is out of place.

After many seconds of deeply peering at all the details in the photo a loud voice suddenly screams and a horrible face appears on the screen.

It WILL shake you.

It made one guy cry.

Being surprised/startled/frightened like that is a harmless prank and a good one too. As long as he doesn't cry, piss himself, get mad at you or have a heart attack and die.

http://www.rumdesign.com/wrong/

d4nth3m4n · Jun 24, 2006, 07:02 PM

What happened, did "abe" get banned?

there was that "maze" one too.

Originally Posted by spauldingg

Chuckit, please excuse me, I have always sucked at math. But before I embarrassed myself posting here I tried it five times. It gave me a correct and different symbol/number every time. It would have to be totally random considering there is no input on my part. If I was about to roll a nine sided die but before hand I "wished it to be seven" (no matter how I came up with that number, subtracting from two digits from a larger number... whatever) it still would only have a one in nine chance of it coming up seven. If I rolled the dice five times, and "wished" a different number each time, it would still be the same odds.

Sorry, I shouldn't be worrying about something so trivial, but it is making me nuts.

take note that the symbols for all the multiples of 9 are the same every time, though they rotate through the symbol palette every time you start over.

multiples of 9- 9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54... always the same symbol.

aberdeenwriter · Jun 24, 2006, 07:10 PM

Originally Posted by d4nth3m4n

What happened, did "abe" get banned?

Lost my password and rather than do all that stuff to get reminded of it or reset it I decided to just go 'old school.'

Chuckit · 07:21 PM

I made a picture illustrating what it does. All the possible final results are circled:

It uses a different symbol each time, but they always share.

spauldingg · Jun 24, 2006, 07:16 PM

Originally Posted by aberdeenwriter

How about the one where he has to find the thing in an online photo of a room that is out of place.

After many seconds of deeply peering at all the details in the photo a loud voice suddenly screams and a horrible face appears on the screen.

It WILL shake you.

It made one guy cry.

Being surprised/startled/frightened like that is a harmless prank and a good one too. As long as he doesn't cry, piss himself, get mad at you or have a heart attack and die.

http://www.rumdesign.com/wrong/

I never use LOL because I rarey do, but this time I actually did.

spauldingg · Jun 24, 2006, 07:25 PM

DOH! number one: Argh, they change the final screen every time you play... tricky bastards. Even if it's not clever math, it IS a clever trick. (and thanks for going through all the effort to explain it to me.)

DOH! number two: I laughed at something "abe" said. Where are my self-flagellation whips?