Numbers game

Title

Numbers game

Creator

Kahn, I. G. Jr.

Language

English

Source

Panorama XII (10) October 1960

Year

1960

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

Funny, isn't it? Numbers (fame by I. G. Kahn, Jr. 7 he science of numbers, the foundation of all phy sical sciences is express ed in ten simple symbols, name ly, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 and 0. Through the mastery of num bers man has been able to achieve unbelievable technolo gical advances. Many of us though can still remember those grade-school days when we cursed the Hin dus for having invented the Ze ro — a consistent hallmark of many a schoolboy’s proficiency in arithmetic. To cover up for such defi ciency in arithmetic, we have come up with easy-to-follow tricks with unpredictable inte gers making us as precise as an IBM computer. These number tricks can be learned by an average third grader in ten min utes. Play them on unknowing parents, girl or boy friends, and anyone who can count. They will swear that you have the making of another Einstein. 1. Examine the square of the figures below. 4 3 8 9 5 1 2 7 6 Notice anything about it? If you’re keen you’ll easily disco ver that any three numbers in straight line, including the dia gonals, add up to 15. Thus, 4 plus 3 plus 8 equals 15; 8 plus 1 plus 6 equals 15; and 2 plus 5 plus 8 equals 15. 2. Now, for another trick. Have your friend — without your seeing it — arrange any set of figures in the following manner: 4 5 3 6 3 By having him tell you only the sums of the “outer’ ’numbers ,the horizontally-arranged numbers and vertically-arranged numbers 66 Panorama you will be able to “guess” just what digit he placed in the mid dle. (In our example —3). The trick works this way: By adding the outer numbers — 5 plus 4 plus 6 plus 3 (the circumfer ence we call it) — we arrive at 18. Then total the vertical num bers — 4 plus 3 — is 10. While the sum of the horizontal num bers — 5 plus 3 plus 6 — comes up to 14. Add the horizontal and vertical totals and subtract it from the circumference total (whichever is bigger) and di vide by 2. Thus, 10 plus 14 equals 24, and 24 minus 18 gives us 6. Six divided 2 equals — which is the middle number in our example. Simple as abc, isn’t it? 3. Nine is an amazing num ber. With it and its multiples, i.e. numbers divisible by 9 like 18, 36, 81, countless numerical oddities can be drawn out. For instance, take any three digits (caution: the first digit must be bigger than the last). Sub tract from it its inverted order, as the example below. 6 4 3 —3 4 6 2 9 7 difference By simply giving you 7 as your clue, you can instantly supply him the correct difference. This trick is guaranteed to leave them open-mounthed everytime. How it works: You will observe that in this trick the middle number is always 9. By know ing the last number, subtract it from 9, and the result will be the first number. Thus 9 minus 7 equals 2. Right off the butt, you come up with 297, the right answer in our example above. Caution: this applies only to three-digit minuends. 4. This is another one of those 9 tricks. Have your “vic tim” (always without your see ing it) draw up any series of numbers as many number as he desires. Next, have him add them all up, and from that same series, subtract its sum. Sup pose he writes: 67336978 — 49 — 49 6733^929 difference Ask him to cancel any number ed he choses from the differ ence, and minus the cancelled number, to add them all up again as in the first procedure. Thus, 677334929—39 By telling you that the resulting sum is 39, you will be able to tell your astonished friend that the number he crossed out is six (as in our example). The secret: What number will you add to 39 to bring it up to a number divisible by 9? Why, 6, of course, to make it 45! So that if the resulting sum is 18, 9 is the crossed-out num ber that will make it a multiple of nine, meaning 27. (Caution: if the resulting sum is either 9 October 1960 67 or 0, then the cancelled number is also either 9 or 0.) 5. For our last game, we come to a process in addition also in volving the queer number 9. First write down any five digits. Second, draw four horizontal lines under it, and immediately under the last line write down the total which will be based on the first set of numbers. Have your friend fill in the first and third lines with any set of num bers he wishes. After he has done that, fill in the second and fourth lines with enough rapidi ty so that your “victim” will not think that you’ve had time to do some quick mental calculations. Then, have him sum up the en tire thing, and to his continuing amazement he will arrive at the exact total you wrote down at the very start! 'LL ow it works: suppose you ' I wrote down the first set of five numbers and the four lines immediately below it in our example below. 63456 88888 11111 33333 66666 263454 For our total, subtract 2 from the last digit in the topmost set of numbers and cast the sub tracted 2 before the first digit, otherwise all numbers remain the same. Suppose further, that on the first line your friend jot ted down 8-8-8-8-8, you’ll know right away that the second line which you must fill should be l-l-l-l-l because it is the num ber you add to 8 to make it 9. The principle is the same for the next two lines. Thus, if he fills in the third line with 3 3-3-3-3, you fill in the last line with 6-6-6-6-6 because 6 plus 3 equals 9. Test the example your self. Magical number, this num ber 9, itsn’t it? The beautiful thing about all these tricks is that you can not possibly be mistaken with your answers if you follow carefully the procedures laid down. Your “victim” might be in error but not you. * * * A MAN NEEDS A woman tb take care of him so that she can make him strong enough for her to lean on. 68 Panorama

pages

66-68

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