Maths magic tricks are an underused slice of maths life yet they are an inventive, enjoyable and fascinating way of bringing numbers to life. They have the power to motivate, inspire and amaze children, help children to understand maths concepts and develop their maths skills. Children delight in performing them. Research by Richard Wiseman has found that teaching children magic can boost their self-discipline and social skills as well as develop their self-esteem, confidence, empathy and interaction.
Whilst it might be pushing the talents of most teachers to teach Harry Potter-style lessons, what they can do is teach some simple tricks that have the wow factor. It also elevates their playground status! Select a number without telling me but point to the card or cards it appears on. I will tell you the number you have in your mind! Maths magic tricks can energise any maths class and create a sense of wonder and curiosity about maths.
You can introduce them as problem-solving tasks and challenge children to demystify them so they are valuable activities for developing critical thinking skills. Share the following 10 tricks with children and explain how they are done. Encourage them to practise with family and friends but remember to tell them that a magician never reveals their secrets! Just as every teacher should have a collection of jokes at the ready, every teacher should also have a collection of maths tricks up their sleeve to show children.
Encourage children to practise and personalise a couple of tricks with a maths partner, building up to a performance in front of a small group; add a bit of performance theatre to it as confidence grows. Within a whole-class session ask children to take on the role of a mathemagician - ready to impress everyone with marvellous memory feats and spell-binding maths wizardry!
John Dabell is a teacher with over 20 years teaching experience across all key stages. Tags mathematics , maths. Out of the hat! Here are two to practice on. Then make up your own tricks. Here are three tricks Drew invented. Draw the pictures to figure out how he can easily figure out your starting number! Click here to learn how to do this trick and to understand how it works.
Algebraic Thinking. Algebraic Thinking Topics: Puzzles. Developing algebraic ideas and language Number tricks are fun for children. Think of a number, do some arithmetic, tell me your result, and I can instantly say what number you started with. The trick An example of predicting the answer: Think of a number. Add 3. Double that. Subtract 4. Cut that in half. Subtract your original number. Your result is 1! Using math in magic tricks, however, is just as much an art as it is science.
Of course you won't be able to read someone's mind literally with these tricks, but if done correctly, you'll be able to wow your friends by guessing their answer without them telling you! To read someone's mind with math, ask your partner to pick a number between 1 and Tell your partner to multiply their number by 2, then multiply the new number by 5.
Divide their current number by the original number, then subtract 7 from the answer. Finish by guessing the answer, which should always be 3. If you want to give your trick the appearance of being magical, wear a magician's costume and perform each step with a touch of theatrical flair. For tips on how to do the Divide by Half or Lucky Number 13 tricks, read on! Did this summary help you?
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Find a kind willing partner. Find someone you're looking to impress, who has a few minutes to spare for your trick. It's best to find somewhere quiet to do this, as an interruption risks messing it up. Ask him to pick a whole number between one and ten.
In theory, they could choose any real number. However, it's best to stick between one and ten for the sake of simplicity. Larger numbers will complicate the math; so will choosing numbers with decimal points or fractions.
Impress him with the "End With 3" trick. This trick is a good one to start with, as its one of the simplest. There's just enough substance to make it impressive however, so take the following steps and get them wondering how you knew it: Tell him to multiply their number by 2.
Ask him to multiply the new number by 5. Have him divide their current number by their original number. Instruct him to subtract 7 from their current number. There's a lot to be said for retaining some of the mystery too, and letting students enjoy the wonder of the "magic. Notes: 1 This trick is from Mathemagic. Leave this field blank. Search Search. Newsletter Sign Up. Teaching Compassion with Angelo. Columnists All Columnists Ken Shore School Issues: Glossary.
Search form Search. Math Magic Math magic tricks can liven up any math class and create a sense of wonder and curiosity about math. Trending Report Card Comments It's report card time and you face the prospect of writing constructive, insightful, and original comments on a couple dozen report cards or more.
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