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ERIC Number: EJ970048
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Jan
Pages: 5
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0746-8342
EISSN: N/A
Cups and Downs
Stewart, Ian
College Mathematics Journal, v43 n1 p15-19 Jan 2012
Martin Gardner wrote about a coin-flipping trick, performed by a blindfolded magician. The paper analyses this trick, and compares it with a similar trick using three cups flipped in pairs. Several different methods of analysis are discussed, including a graphical analysis of the state space and a representation in terms of a matrix. These methods can also solve a more general problem about inverting n cups m at a time, whose answer is surprisingly complicated.
Mathematical Association of America. 1529 Eighteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-741-9415; Tel: 202-387-5200; Fax: 202-387-1208; e-mail: maahq@maa.org; Web site: http://www.maa.org/pubs/cmj.html
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A