BRAIN WAVER
by Bill Goldman

Effect

Mathematical principles have always existed, waiting to be discovered. For example, if you take any two digit number and subtract the sum of the two digits, e.g. 41-5 or 76-13, you will get an answer divisible by nine.

This principle has been used many times in several tricks. Sometimes it has even produced something magical. One of Bill's favorites appears on the internet under the title "The Flash Mindreader," the creation of Wayne Hoffman, magician, mind reader and software designer.

Hoffman's creation inspired Randy Malcolm, jet-setting magician. He called Bill and described an effect similar to the Flash Mind reader that placed apparently random playing cards on a numerical list. The card at their number would than be revealed in a sealed envelope. Sealed and revealed. That has a nice ring to it. His effect evolved over the course of a couple of weeks, incorporating a pair of dice and some wonderful nuances. Bill came into the picture when he asked Bill to lay out the list for him.

In working on Randy's list, Bill came up with a variation using words. This took several jumps, and in my effort to get as far away from the mathematics and then the words, Bill came up with the following. The results play very big.