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Experiment 13 v5
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Uncovering the secrets of the Five Magic Dice trick
Can you uncover how magicians instantly find the total number of all hidden numbers in the Five Magic Dice trick?
Purpose
This experiment gives children an opportunity to practise addition and subtraction manually and use their creativity to uncover the secret of the Five Magic Dice trick.
The child will learn how to do a magic trick based on mathematics.
You need to know
- how to add numbers in your head
- how to subtract numbers in your head
You will need
Steps
- Roll the dice and try guessing the sum of all the numbers at the bottom.
- Count the numbers at the bottom to see how close you were.
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Use a pen and paper to investigate how magicians can do this.
Record all the details you can about each roll and see if you can find a pattern.
Hint
A good magician can immediately find the total of all hidden numbers.
Questions
- How are the numbers of each die organised?
- If you roll just one die, can you work out the number on the bottom if you only know the number on the top?
- How to you find the sum of the hidden numbers?
Expected answers
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The numbers are organised so that the sum of opposite sides is always 7.
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To find the number on the bottom, subtract the number on the top from 7.
For example, if the number on top is 5, the number on the bottom will be 7 - 5 = 2.
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To find the sum of the bottom numbers, you need to add all numbers at the top and subtract the sum from 35.
Explore further (optional)
Using what you've learned in this experiment, search the internet for other magic dice tricks.
See whether you can uncover their secrets using simple addition and subtraction.
Tips for further exploration
There are many dice tricks based on this principle.
Alternatively, the child might want to make up their own similar trick.
