mathematicians, musicians, anyone.........how do they do it?????

http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/games/magic-gopher-central.swf

OK, I fooled it . (I must have too much time on my hands today)

I did the same number twice. The first time the gopher got it right. The second time I didn't look at the number on the symbol chart but deliberately looked at another number. This number's symbol was the one the gopher held up.

So somehow it knows what my eye is homing in on. How??

However, the symbols change around each time. So how can I know that the second time the gopher wasn't right, as I didn't look...

You look at the right symbol for a moment, remember it, and then spend a lot of time looking at another one. Hey, are we actually discussing "gopher fooling technique" in a serious kind of way?

It's based on a mathematical formula. All of the calculations turn out to be either 0,9,18,27,36,45,54 and so on.

If you look at the symbols of these particular numbers they will ALL have the same symbols.

They try and fool you by changing these numbers to a different symbol each time you play the game.

Does that spoil the magic for you? Sorry...

Suppose your two digits are n and m - that is, your number is 10n + m. The sum of the two digits is n+m. The difference you calculate is thus 10n + m - (n+m) = 9n. In other words, whatever your number is, the answer is a multiple of 9, and, if you look a the table of symbols, you'll see that all multiples of 9 up to 81 (n = 1 to 9) have the same symbol, although the symbol used changes from game to game.

Cute

It could have fooled me, and it did! LOL...thanks for the explanation! I think I can go to sleep now

Now I am disappointed, what's next? there is no Tooth fairy?

it didnt get mine. at all