Serial Number Feat

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Serial Number Feat Originated by Royal V. Heath Presented by Grey Matters Mental Gym http://members.cox.net/beagenius/

description

In the Serial Number Feat, a spectator keeps a bill's serial number hidden from the performer. The performer asks for several totals from the serial number, and after some calculations, is able to give the serial number itself!

Transcript of Serial Number Feat

Page 1: Serial Number Feat

Serial Number FeatOriginated by Royal V. Heath

Presented by Grey Matters Mental Gymhttp://members.cox.net/beagenius/

Page 2: Serial Number Feat

Serial Number Feat

• In the Serial Number Feat, you ask someone to take out a bill, and make sure you don’t see the serial number.

• You ask for the totals of the 1st and 2nd digits, the 2nd and 3rd digits, and so on, up to the 7th and 8th digits. You also ask for the total of the 2nd and 8th digits.

After some figuring on a notepad, you can give the hidden serial number!

Page 3: Serial Number Feat

Serial Number Feat Requirements

• Notepad• Pencil• Spectator

The bill used in the experiment must have an even number of digits in the serial number, such as U.S. bills with 8 digits.

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Serial Number Feat

• Ask a spectator to remove a bill from their pocket. As an example, let’s say the hidden serial number is 37036914.

Ask for the total of the 1st & 2nd digits, and write that on the notepad. In our example, the answer would be 10 (3+7).

Page 5: Serial Number Feat

Serial Number Feat

Ask for the total of the 2nd & 3rd digits, the 3rd & 4th, and so on up to the total of the 7th and 8th digits, writing each answer on the notepad. In our example, your notepad would now read: 10-7-3-9-15-10-5

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Serial Number Feat

Finally, ask for the total of the 2nd and 8th digits on the bill, and write that answer on the notepad. Adding this answer, our example notepad would now read: 10-7-3-9-15-10-5-11

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Serial Number Feat

• Notepad reads: 10-7-3-9-15-10-5-11

Add the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th totals together. In our example, we add 7+9+10+11 to get 37. Write that total down below the other totals.

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Serial Number Feat

• Notepad reads: 10-7-3-9-15-10-5-11 37

• Next add the 3rd, 5th and 7th digits together (note that the 1st total isn’t included). In our example, we add 3+15+5 to get 23. Write that total beside the previous total.

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Serial Number Feat

• Notepad reads: 10-7-3-9-15-10-5-11 37 23

Using the two totals on the second line, subtract the 2nd from the 1st. In our example, this is 37-23, giving us 14.

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Serial Number Feat

• Notepad reads: 10-7-3-9-15-10-5-11 37 - 23 = 14

• Divide this answer by 2, which will give the 2nd digit of the serial number. In our example, 14/2=7, so we know that the second digit of the serial number is 7.

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Serial Number Feat

• Notepad reads: 10-7-3-9-15-10-5-11 37 - 23 = 14 . . . . 14/2=7

• Subtract the 2nd digit (7 in our example) from the 1st total (10 in our example) to get the 1st digit of the serial number. In our example, we perform 10-7 to get 3.

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Serial Number Feat

• Notepad reads: 10-7-3-9-15-10-5-11 37 - 23 = 14 . . . . 14/2=7 37

• The rest of the digits are worked out in a similar manner. In our example, the total of the 2nd and 3rd digits is 7, giving us 7-7=0 as the third digit.

Page 13: Serial Number Feat

Serial Number Feat

• Notepad reads: 10-7-3-9-15-10-5-11 37 - 23 = 14 . . . . 14/2=7 370

• Continue working through the rest of the totals one by one, ignoring the final total (11, in our example, which is the total of the 2nd and 8th digits). Try and work out the remaining digits of our example before continuing.

Page 14: Serial Number Feat

Serial Number Feat

• Notepad reads: 10-7-3-9-15-10-5-11 37 - 23 = 14 . . . . 14/2=7 37036914

• Once you’ve worked out each digit, you now have the serial number (example in bold above)! Read it off to the spectator to verify that you are correct.