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Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications

Product ID: 99560
Supplementary Print
Undergraduate
High School

Some Card Tricks: Algebra in Disguise (UMAP)

Author: Peter A. Lindstrom


Many card tricks are counting problems solved by elementary algebra. Each card trick (world problem) is transformed to a linear equation in several unknowns. Solving the equation for certain variables will produce a rule for solving the card trick. Students develop rules for solving card tricks by elementary algebra, and show applications of elementary algebra to recreational mathematics.

Table of Contents:

1. INTRODUCTION

2. CARD TRICK #1

3. TWO BASIC PRINCIPLES

4. SOLUTION TO CARD TRICK #1

5. CARD TRICK #4

6. CONCLUSION

7. MODEL EXAM

8. SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES

9. SOLUTIONS TO THE MODEL EXAM

©1983 by COMAP, Inc.
UMAP Module
15 pages

Mathematics Topics:

Algebra , Precalculus & Trigonometry , Number Theory , Number Theory, Precalculus, Algebra

Application Areas:

Sports & Recreation , Card Tricks, Recreational Mathematics

Prerequisites:

Precalculus; transform word problems to linear equations in several variables; solve for one (or more) of the variables of a linear equation in several unknowns

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