I cant figure it out.
Nevermind I found out.
“The Flash Mind Reader” - How It Works
So my roommate sent me this Flash Mind Reading thing at
http://mr-31238.mr.valuehost.co.uk/assets/Flash/psychic.swf,
frustrated with it and herself, mystified about how the thing
worked. Lots of bloggers have linked to it, and it surprises me
the number of people who this frustrates.
I figured it out.
Before I reveal how I figured it out, and why it works, let’s
review the instructions:
"Choose any two digit number, add together both digits
and then subtract the total from your original number.
When you have the final number look it up on the chart
and find the relevant symbol. Concentrate on the symbol
and when you have it clearly in your mind click on the
crystal ball and it will show you the symbol you are
thinking of"
================================================================
STEP 1: Choose any two digit number
There are lots of those! Numbers 10 to 99. And to emphasize
all those choices we get a graphic filled with wingdings:
Dizzying! All those possibilities. All these numbers the computer
has to figure out when reading your mind! How can it do it?
Can it do it? Is it possible that a computer can read my mind?
================================================================
STEP 2: add together both digits and then subtract the total
from your original number.
Oh. Actually it’s not going to read the number I thought of. It
wants me to do math first. It’s still impressive if it can do it
though, because there are so many possibilities. If I think of
a really hard number that nobody will have thought of, I can
beat this stupid thing and prove it wrong!
================================================================
STEP 3: When you have the final number look it up on the chart
and find the relevant symbol. Concentrate on the symbol
and when you have it clearly in your mind click on the
crystal ball and it will show you the symbol you are
thinking of
So you do the math, and the thing works! Aigh! and I chose my
number so carefully!
================================================================
SO HOW DOES IT WORK?
It turns out that for all the possible numbers you can choose,
there are not all that many possible results to the calculation
you are asked to do on the number you choose.
Here’s all of the possible numbers, alongside the calculations:
±--------------±------------------±-------------------+
| ALL TWO | THE DIGITS | THE DIGIT TOTAL |
| DIGIT | ADDED | SUBTRACTED |
| NUMBERS | TOGETHER | FROM THE NUMBER |
±--------------±------------------±-------------------+
| 10 | 1 + 0 = 1 | 10 - 1 = 9 |
| 11 | 1 + 1 = 2 | 11 - 2 = 9 |
| 12 | 1 + 2 = 3 | 12 - 3 = 9 |
| 13 | 1 + 3 = 4 | 13 - 4 = 9 |
| 14 | 1 + 4 = 5 | 14 - 5 = 9 |
| 15 | 1 + 5 = 6 | 15 - 6 = 9 |
| 16 | 1 + 6 = 7 | 16 - 7 = 9 |
| 17 | 1 + 7 = 8 | 17 - 8 = 9 |
| 18 | 1 + 8 = 9 | 18 - 9 = 9 |
| 19 | 1 + 9 = 10 | 19 - 10 = 9 |
| 20 | 2 + 0 = 2 | 20 - 2 = 18 |
| 21 | 2 + 1 = 3 | 21 - 3 = 18 |
| 22 | 2 + 2 = 4 | 22 - 4 = 18 |
| 23 | 2 + 3 = 5 | 23 - 5 = 18 |
| 24 | 2 + 4 = 6 | 24 - 6 = 18 |
| 25 | 2 + 5 = 7 | 25 - 7 = 18 |
| 26 | 2 + 6 = 8 | 26 - 8 = 18 |
| 27 | 2 + 7 = 9 | 27 - 9 = 18 |
| 28 | 2 + 8 = 10 | 28 - 10 = 18 |
| 29 | 2 + 9 = 11 | 29 - 11 = 18 |
| 30 | 3 + 0 = 3 | 30 - 3 = 27 |
| 31 | 3 + 1 = 4 | 31 - 4 = 27 |
| 32 | 3 + 2 = 5 | 32 - 5 = 27 |
| 33 | 3 + 3 = 6 | 33 - 6 = 27 |
| 34 | 3 + 4 = 7 | 34 - 7 = 27 |
| 35 | 3 + 5 = 8 | 35 - 8 = 27 |
| 36 | 3 + 6 = 9 | 36 - 9 = 27 |
| 37 | 3 + 7 = 10 | 37 - 10 = 27 |
| 38 | 3 + 8 = 11 | 38 - 11 = 27 |
| 39 | 3 + 9 = 12 | 39 - 12 = 27 |
| 40 | 4 + 0 = 4 | 40 - 4 = 36 |
| 41 | 4 + 1 = 5 | 41 - 5 = 36 |
| 42 | 4 + 2 = 6 | 42 - 6 = 36 |
| 43 | 4 + 3 = 7 | 43 - 7 = 36 |
| 44 | 4 + 4 = 8 | 44 - 8 = 36 |
| 45 | 4 + 5 = 9 | 45 - 9 = 36 |
| 46 | 4 + 6 = 10 | 46 - 10 = 36 |
| 47 | 4 + 7 = 11 | 47 - 11 = 36 |
| 48 | 4 + 8 = 12 | 48 - 12 = 36 |
| 49 | 4 + 9 = 13 | 49 - 13 = 36 |
| 50 | 5 + 0 = 5 | 50 - 5 = 45 |
| 51 | 5 + 1 = 6 | 51 - 6 = 45 |
| 52 | 5 + 2 = 7 | 52 - 7 = 45 |
| 53 | 5 + 3 = 8 | 53 - 8 = 45 |
| 54 | 5 + 4 = 9 | 54 - 9 = 45 |
| 55 | 5 + 5 = 10 | 55 - 10 = 45 |
| 56 | 5 + 6 = 11 | 56 - 11 = 45 |
| 57 | 5 + 7 = 12 | 57 - 12 = 45 |
| 58 | 5 + 8 = 13 | 58 - 13 = 45 |
| 59 | 5 + 9 = 14 | 59 - 14 = 45 |
| 60 | 6 + 0 = 6 | 60 - 6 = 54 |
| 61 | 6 + 1 = 7 | 61 - 7 = 54 |
| 62 | 6 + 2 = 8 | 62 - 8 = 54 |
| 63 | 6 + 3 = 9 | 63 - 9 = 54 |
| 64 | 6 + 4 = 10 | 64 - 10 = 54 |
| 65 | 6 + 5 = 11 | 65 - 11 = 54 |
| 66 | 6 + 6 = 12 | 66 - 12 = 54 |
| 67 | 6 + 7 = 13 | 67 - 13 = 54 |
| 68 | 6 + 8 = 14 | 68 - 14 = 54 |
| 69 | 6 + 9 = 15 | 69 - 15 = 54 |
| 70 | 7 + 0 = 7 | 70 - 7 = 63 |
| 71 | 7 + 1 = 8 | 71 - 8 = 63 |
| 72 | 7 + 2 = 9 | 72 - 9 = 63 |
| 73 | 7 + 3 = 10 | 73 - 10 = 63 |
| 74 | 7 + 4 = 11 | 74 - 11 = 63 |
| 75 | 7 + 5 = 12 | 75 - 12 = 63 |
| 76 | 7 + 6 = 13 | 76 - 13 = 63 |
| 77 | 7 + 7 = 14 | 77 - 14 = 63 |
| 78 | 7 + 8 = 15 | 78 - 15 = 63 |
| 79 | 7 + 9 = 16 | 79 - 16 = 63 |
| 80 | 8 + 0 = 8 | 80 - 8 = 72 |
| 81 | 8 + 1 = 9 | 81 - 9 = 72 |
| 82 | 8 + 2 = 10 | 82 - 10 = 72 |
| 83 | 8 + 3 = 11 | 83 - 11 = 72 |
| 84 | 8 + 4 = 12 | 84 - 12 = 72 |
| 85 | 8 + 5 = 13 | 85 - 13 = 72 |
| 86 | 8 + 6 = 14 | 86 - 14 = 72 |
| 87 | 8 + 7 = 15 | 87 - 15 = 72 |
| 88 | 8 + 8 = 16 | 88 - 16 = 72 |
| 89 | 8 + 9 = 17 | 89 - 17 = 72 |
| 90 | 9 + 0 = 9 | 90 - 9 = 81 |
| 91 | 9 + 1 = 10 | 91 - 10 = 81 |
| 92 | 9 + 2 = 11 | 92 - 11 = 81 |
| 93 | 9 + 3 = 12 | 93 - 12 = 81 |
| 94 | 9 + 4 = 13 | 94 - 13 = 81 |
| 95 | 9 + 5 = 14 | 95 - 14 = 81 |
| 96 | 9 + 6 = 15 | 96 - 15 = 81 |
| 97 | 9 + 7 = 16 | 97 - 16 = 81 |
| 98 | 9 + 8 = 17 | 98 - 17 = 81 |
| 99 | 9 + 9 = 18 | 99 - 18 = 81 |
±--------------±------------------±-------------------+
We can now see that despite the fact that we get to choose from
numbers 10 to 99, really, there are only 9 possible numbers to
be put on our mind. So while there are lots of symbols provided,
we only have to worry about 9 of them: 9 18 27 36 45 54 63 72 81
And if we look close, we’ll find that despite the fact that the
symbols are randomized, there is a peculiar consistency in the
Mind Reader: multiples of 9 always share the same symbol.
Refresh the page and you’ll see a new symbol, but 9 and 45 and
81 (and the rest of them) will always share that new symbol.