Madison Howard Assignment 1

Before I started taking higher level math classes, I always thought of mathematicians as doing computations constantly. Now, however, I see the importance of being able to articulately prove theorems. This is something I hadn’t thought much about before. When I think of magic, I usually think of magicians on stage wearing flashy costumes and preforming tricks. I think that math and magic have both similarities and differences. In some tricks that are mostly based on illusions and distracting the audience, math does not seem to be involved. In card tricks, however, it seems more obvious that math is used in some way. I think there are instances when math and magic are forced to go hand in hand. Even in simple situations like cutting a deck of cards in such a way that allows for a trick to be performed, math is the underlying force. A magic trick that has impressed me was a trick in which members of the audience came on stage and were given flashlights to hold and move around. Then, the assistant put up a curtain so that you couldn’t see the people behind the curtain, but you could see the flashlights moving around. Then, the all stage lights went off in a flash and within a few seconds, they were turned back on and the audience members holding the flashlights were standing in the back of the auditorium. I think this trick had less to do with math, and more to do with light illusions.