Discover the magic of math in these 12 entertaining lessons taught by "mathemagician" Arthur Benjamin-an award-winning professor and acclaimed magician.
Math and Magic
Abbra, cadabra ... 1+2 is ... not really magic. But math can be magical when you master the tricks of the trade.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
JPM54 from
Very entertaining
I took this course mainly because I am interested in learning card magic. There are quite a few very impressive ones. And then, there are many math tricks that were of less interest to me to learn, but which were fun nonetheless.
Date published: 2024-09-14
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Unslopogaas from
Easy to follow, lots of fun
I am following through this course with son who is absolutely loving it. He is impressing his school mates with these card tricks.
A very fun, well explained, and entertaining course, with a very clear and engaging instructor.
Date published: 2023-06-01
Rated 5 out of
5
by
jodx from
Superb
I came across Professor Benjamin 15 years ago on a UK Open University Maths course. I immediately purchased some of his courses from The Great Courses. He is a gifted teacher with a wonderful warm personality. We are so fortunate in the age of the internet to have his talents at our disposal. Wondrium has many wondeful courses of which this one, for me, is one of the best!
Date published: 2022-12-29
Rated 5 out of
5
by
AnneFlink from
Magic at it's best
Exactly what I expected. Wanted to buy this for several years - not sure why I waited. Shows the "magic" trick, then how, then why. Perfect. Prof Benjamin is engaging and clearly loves the math and magic. I needed to review several times and keep practicing. But great course. Absolutely recommend if you like "magic" but also have an interest in Math.
Date published: 2022-12-21
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Christof from
a bit sad -- you sent me the same package -- could have just got the one -- but very confusing -- one book almost the same as the other -- for both courses this happened. I donated to library..
Date published: 2022-10-16
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Jack047 from
Math and Magic
Thus far it's been great! I love magic and this has been perfect!
Date published: 2022-09-14
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Jimbo52 from
Some good tricks
Some card tricks are very good, some complex. Same for math tricks.
Overall worth the time and money!
Date published: 2022-09-14
Rated 3 out of
5
by
Bad Bob from
Very clear
Concepts and tricks are explained very clearly. Be aware however, this course emphasizes more math than the magic.
Date published: 2022-09-06
Overview
About
Arthur T. Benjamin is the Smallwood Family Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College. He earned a PhD in Mathematical Sciences from Johns Hopkins University. His teaching has been honored by the Mathematical Association of America, and he was named to The Princeton Review’s list of the Best 300 Professors. He has also served as president of the Fibonacci Association. A professional magician, he is the author of the book The Magic of Math, a New York Times bestseller. He has appeared on numerous television and radio programs and has been featured in Scientific American and The New York Times.
Trailer
01: Mathematical Card Tricks
Begin the course with card tricks in which mathematics is clearly being used, but the secret is not easy to figure out. Learn the invariant principle: Some qualities stay the same in a deck even though the order of cards is changing. End with what Professor Benjamin calls the “tear-able” trick, being careful to use cards that you don’t mind wrecking.
30 min
02: What’s Your Deal?
Explore card tricks in which the cards are shuffled, dealt, and flipped over in interesting ways, leading to surprising outcomes. Discover Hummer’s principle—an endless source of mystifying, crowd-pleasing tricks, based on random mixing of cards combined with a simple procedure that preserves a pattern that seems positively magical.
36 min
03: Look like a Card Shark
Professor Benjamin shows how to play cards like someone who would be thrown out of a casino. Learn the Jonah principle for always winning at poker. Get a “feel” for counting cards and develop the knack for telepathically communicating a hidden card to an assistant. Finally, who could claim to be a card shark without a trick that turns up four aces every time?
40 min
04: The Deck Is Stacked
Investigate tricks based on the cyclic method of card ordering, or “stacking,” popularized by magician Si Stebbins and tracing originally to one of the first books on magic, published in Italy in 1593. Learn how to seemingly weigh a deck of cards in your hands and other miraculous feats based on this simple principle.
25 min
05: Perfect Shuffles
Professor Benjamin introduces a special guest, mathematician and magician Brent Morris, master of the perfect shuffle (also known as the faro shuffle), in which two equal halves of the deck are interlaced perfectly. You will learn two versions of this virtuoso technique—the in-shuffle and out-shuffle—along with sequences of shuffles that lead to very interesting symmetries.
30 min
06: Riffle Shuffles
Explore results of an ordinary riffle shuffle, where the deck is cut roughly in half, and the cards are interlaced approximately—but usually not perfectly. Depending on how the cards are arranged beforehand, intriguing effects are possible, based on Gilbreath’s principle of patterned sequences. Study several of these magic showpieces.
32 min
07: Magic with Numbers
Master an impressive medley of number-guessing tricks, involving the golden ratio, the Fibonacci series, and other notable numbers. In analyzing how the tricks work, discover how straightforward algebraic expressions are secretly pulling the strings. The feats include the very first mathematical magic trick that Professor Benjamin learned.
35 min
08: Look like a Genius
You don’t have to be a genius to look like one. Drawing on young volunteers, Professor Benjamin shows easy strategies for mentally multiplying numbers by 11, dividing numbers by 91, multiplying any numbers near 100, squaring numbers ending in 5, and other seemingly fearless feats of arithmetic, without use of a calculator.
32 min
09: The Magic of Nine
Admire the magic of the number nine. An ancient technique called “casting out nines” lets you pick out the missing digit in a bewilderingly long series of operations. Then learn to determine two-digit cube roots and also find the age of a volunteer who has hidden the number in a complicated calculation—all with the help of the number nine.
34 min
10: Look like a Psychic
Hone your psychic powers by developing tricks such as these: Have someone scramble their birthday in a seemingly unbreakable code, which you decipher with ease. Calculate the hidden spots on a stack of dice. Use the parity principle to guess where your partner has landed in an alphabetic array. Also learn the magician’s “toxic” calculation principle.
28 min
11: Geometric and Topological Magic
Explore mathematical mysteries that seem geometrically or topologically odd. Consider a paper strip with a half twist, joined end-to-end, known as a Möbius band. What happens when there are more twists or if the shape is cut? Create an analogous shape by slicing a bagel. Also, solve puzzles with disappearing figures, including a rabbit.
31 min
12: Magic Squares
Since ancient times, magic squares have given endless hours of fun through designing grids of numbers where each row, column, and diagonal produces the same sum—as if by magic. In this last lesson, learn to create magic squares quickly from numbers provided by your amazed audience or based on your volunteer’s birthday. Finally, end the course with a magic matrix based on the number pi.
37 min
