Ethan Reed Assignment 1
To me mathematics has always been a collection of related puzzles, which get more interesting as you learn more mathematics. Sometimes mathematics can be used to do really important things for society, but a lot of math is compelling for its own sake without regard for what it can be used to do. Mathematics is a very diverse field, yet it still manages to make very deep connections between seemingly distant topics.
Magic is a performance. According to the movie "The Prestige", a magical act consists of three parts. During "the pledge" the magician introduces an ordinary object. This is followed by "the turn" where the magician uses the object to do something out of the ordinary. Finally, "the prestige" leaves the audience wondering how the trick possibly could have been executed. All magic acts contain some kind of trick. Sometimes, this trick is in the form of an illusion or a sleight of hand meant to deceive, but in other cases there is actually some kind of puzzle much like in mathematics. When making a new trick, perhaps it would be useful to reduce the puzzle part to some part of mathematics that is already mostly solved.
The most impressive magic trick that I can remember was an act on America's Got Talent called The Clairvoyants. One person in the act would feel random objects from the audience, and then the other from across the room was able to read the fine print on objects from across the room. I don't think this act had much to do with mathematics, and probably had more to do with some deception in what was actually going on.
Magic is a performance. According to the movie "The Prestige", a magical act consists of three parts. During "the pledge" the magician introduces an ordinary object. This is followed by "the turn" where the magician uses the object to do something out of the ordinary. Finally, "the prestige" leaves the audience wondering how the trick possibly could have been executed. All magic acts contain some kind of trick. Sometimes, this trick is in the form of an illusion or a sleight of hand meant to deceive, but in other cases there is actually some kind of puzzle much like in mathematics. When making a new trick, perhaps it would be useful to reduce the puzzle part to some part of mathematics that is already mostly solved.
The most impressive magic trick that I can remember was an act on America's Got Talent called The Clairvoyants. One person in the act would feel random objects from the audience, and then the other from across the room was able to read the fine print on objects from across the room. I don't think this act had much to do with mathematics, and probably had more to do with some deception in what was actually going on.
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