In this video, UK memory expert Susan Percy teaches you how to quickly memorize the order of a shuffled deck of cards. At the video link, you can also scroll down and go over the steps in more detail, as well.
After publishing Geek Logik, author Garth Sundem appeared on Good Morning America, to promote it. They took several people who were dealing with major life questions, and applied Garth's equations to their lives. The insights are quite interesting.
This is the complete classic 1970 movie, The Phantom Tollbooth, in 2 parts. As you might guess from the Grey Matters site, the original book and this movie were a big influence on me.
It's simultaneously fun and makes a number of excellent points. Watch the entire movie while it is still available.
Published on Saturday, April 07, 2007 in
math,
technique
Here is a great technique for multiplying two 3-digit numbers! Practice with 2-digit numbers as taught in the video, and work your way up.
It's not completely done in your head, but since you can write down the digits as you go, it can appear that way. It looks especially good if you can remember the numbers you carry, instead of writing them down.
“Tim”, also known as “Jediairmech” is not just demonstrating a memory feat, but teaching a memorization course. In these videos, you'll learn how to remember numbers using the Peg System. In the Mental Gym's Memory Basics section, you can learn more about the Peg System, as well as other memory techniques.
From the response to the first videos, it looks as though he is planning to make more Memorization Course videos, so I'll keep this playlist updated the new lessons are posted.
Other than the Knight's Tour videos I've featured here and here, chess hasn't made much of an appearance on this blog.
Derren Brown, who has been featured once or twice before here, helps to remedy the situation. In the above video, he challenges 9 champion chess players simultaneously, and actually wins most of the games! He also predicts (mostly) the number of pieces that will be left on the board, too. Stick through to the end, and he'll actually explain part of the feat, as well.
There have been numerous versions of the song American Pie, rewritten to be about Pi instead. The one I've seen go the furthest in terms of Pi digits, though, is Alex C. Thompson's version. A few viewings, and you'll know Pi to 30 digits!
If you're more ambitious, you can try this page which will help you sing it up to 191 digits! The music from this page comes from Hard n Phirm's Pi video, which is also available on Google Video and MySpace.
No, the above presentation isn't technically a video. It's a presentation from SlideShare. What YouTube is to videos, SlideShare is to PowerPoint and OpenOffice presentations. Yes, Mac users can create presentations as well, using Keynote, or the Mac versions of the above packages.
This particular presentation teaches you how to square numbers ending in 5 in your head, and then how to use the same technique to mentally multiply numbers that are equidistant from the multiples of 5. To step through the presentation, simply use the two middle arrow keys to step back and forth through the presentation at your own pace.
Published on Wednesday, October 04, 2006 in
memory,
technique
This video features Anant Kasibhatla of the Indian company Memory Vision giving a lecture on memory technique in Malaysia. You can learn a great deal about the link system in this video, even though it's less than 12 minutes long. Once he gives the list of items to remember towards the end and reviews it, stop the video briefly and see if you can recall all of it!
The complete lecture itself teaches how to improve your mental calculation skills, and is very clearly taught. These videos also came with audio tapes and a workbook, which are referred to in the videos. It's not hard to make up your own sample problems, however.
The above video is only the first of 11 parts. Here's an index for the complete set of Mathemagic video clips:
Part 1: Introduction, Adding 2- and 3-digit numbers Part 2: Adding 2- and 3-digit numbers, Calculating tips, Subtracting 2- and 3-digit numbers Part 3: Subtracting 2- and 3-digit numbers Part 4: Subtracting 2- and 3-digit numbers, Multiplying 2- and 3-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers Part 5: Multiplying 3-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers, Percentages, Division of 2- and 3-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers Part 6: Division of 3-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers Part 7: Multiplying fractions Part 8: Multiplying, Adding and subtracting fractions, Converting fractions to decimals Part 9: Converting fractions to decimals, Estimation, Squaring Part 10: Squaring, Algebra Part 11: Algebra, Fibonacci addition trick
Towards the end, there are a few times you are referred to the workbook for a more detailed explanation. Here are some links on the web that can give you the required explanations:
Rubik's Clock, for those who aren't familiar with it, was a two-sided puzzle that featured 18 clocks (9 on each side), all of which only have hour hands. When you start, each of the 18 clocks point to various hours, and your challenge is to set all the clocks to 12 o'clock. The first obstacle you face is that setting the hour on one clock will always change one or more of the other clocks, as well. The other obstacle you face is the four buttons on the puzzle, each of which can be up or down, and which change the relationship of which clocks are affected by which other clock.
In the video link above, Stefan Pochmann solves this puzzle in only 10 seconds. If you want an idea of how maddening this puzzle can be, you can try the Javascript version for yourself.
Posts
