10th December 2021

Psychic Number Trick

Oh, the mystery of maths. Maths is magic, that's all there is to it.

Your guest writes four numbers down on a piece of paper and totals them. You have that total inside your envelope. Minds. Blown.

What you'll need:

Piece of paper

Pen

Envelope

How to do it:

- Before you start, write down the number which is 2x the current year's date. So if we are now in 2020 the number will be 4040.

- Put the number in an envelope and seal it.

- Show commences. Ask a helper to write down the year they were born.

- Ask them to write down the year an important event in their life took place. For example, the year they started school, or the year a sibling was born.

- Ask them to write down how old they'll be by the end of the year.

- Ask them to write down how many years have gone by since the year of the important event. (All these numbers must be accurate and have to be whole numbers)

- Ask them to add all these four numbers up, or ask an assistant to do it.

- Open the envelope and show them the number you have inside. That number should be the total of the four numbers your guest gave you!

Example: This year is 2020, so the number in the envelope is 4040. The child born in 2010. Turns 10 this year. Started school in 2015. This year is 5 years after they started school. Total - 4040.