Mathemagician
Encyclopedia
A mathemagician is a mathematician
who is also a magician.
The name "mathemagician" was probably first applied to Martin Gardner
, but has since been used to describe many mathematician/magicians, including Arthur T. Benjamin
, Persi Diaconis
, and Raymond Smullyan
. Diaconis has suggested that the reason so many mathematicians are magicians is that "inventing a magic trick and inventing a theorem are very similar activities."
A great number of self-working mentalism
tricks are actually mathemagic. Max Maven
often utilizes this type of magic in his performance.
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
who is also a magician.
The name "mathemagician" was probably first applied to Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner was an American mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, but with interests encompassing micromagic, stage magic, literature , philosophy, scientific skepticism, and religion...
, but has since been used to describe many mathematician/magicians, including Arthur T. Benjamin
Arthur T. Benjamin
Arthur T. Benjamin is an American mathematician who specializes in combinatorics. Since 1989 he has been a Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College....
, Persi Diaconis
Persi Diaconis
Persi Warren Diaconis is an American mathematician and former professional magician. He is the Mary V. Sunseri Professor of Statistics and Mathematics at Stanford University....
, and Raymond Smullyan
Raymond Smullyan
Raymond Merrill Smullyan is an American mathematician, concert pianist, logician, Taoist philosopher, and magician.Born in Far Rockaway, New York, his first career was stage magic. He then earned a BSc from the University of Chicago in 1955 and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1959...
. Diaconis has suggested that the reason so many mathematicians are magicians is that "inventing a magic trick and inventing a theorem are very similar activities."
A great number of self-working mentalism
Mentalism
Mentalism is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, appear to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities. Performances may appear to include telepathy, clairvoyance, divination, precognition, psychokinesis, mediumship, mind control, memory feats and rapid...
tricks are actually mathemagic. Max Maven
Max Maven
Max Maven is an American magician and mentalist. He often appears on television magic shows to perform "interactive" mind reading tricks that work for the television audience....
often utilizes this type of magic in his performance.
Notable mathemagicians
- Karl FulvesKarl FulvesKarl Fulves is a magician and author and editor of numerous publications on magic, including the Pallbearer's Review.Karl Fulves lives in Fairlawn, New Jersey, and is a private person who has repeatedly turned down all requests for interviews. There is not much known about him other than his...
- Arthur T. BenjaminArthur T. BenjaminArthur T. Benjamin is an American mathematician who specializes in combinatorics. Since 1989 he has been a Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College....
, Ph.D., Department of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College - Martin GardnerMartin GardnerMartin Gardner was an American mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, but with interests encompassing micromagic, stage magic, literature , philosophy, scientific skepticism, and religion...
In popular culture
- Several fictional characters have also been called mathemagicians, such as Martin Gardner's "Victor Eigen."
- A character in The Phantom TollboothThe Phantom TollboothThe Phantom Tollbooth is a children's adventure novel and modern fairy tale published in 1961, written by Norton Juster and illustrated by Jules Feiffer. It tells the story of a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth one afternoon and, having nothing better to do,...
is known only as "The Mathemagician." He rules over Digitopolis, the kingdom of numbers. - A mathemagician, voiced by Hank AzariaHank AzariaHenry Albert "Hank" Azaria is an American film, television and stage actor, director, voice actor, and comedian. He is noted for being one of the principal voice actors on the animated television series The Simpsons , on which he performs the voices of Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief...
was prominently featured at Martin PrinceMartin PrinceMartin Prince, Jr. is a recurring character in the Fox animated series, The Simpsons, and is voiced by Russi Taylor. Martin is Bart Simpson's classmate, and is Lisa Simpson's rival in intelligence, as well as Nelson Muntz's favorite target for bullying...
's birthday party in the Simpsons episode Grade School ConfidentialGrade School Confidential"Grade School Confidential" is the nineteenth episode of The Simpsons eighth season, which originally aired on April 6, 1997. It was written by Rachel Pulido and directed by Susie Dietter...
.
Further reading
- Fulves, Karl. Self-working Number Magic. Dover Publications. 1984.
- Gardner, Martin. Mathematics, Magic and Mystery DoverDover PublicationsDover Publications is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward Cirker and his wife, Blanche. It publishes primarily reissues, books no longer published by their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books in the public domain. The original published editions may be...
; ISBN 0-486-20335-2. 1956. - Gardner, Martin. Magic Numbers of Dr Matrix, Prometheus Books; ISBN 0-87975-282-3. 1985
- Gardner, Martin. Martin Gardner's Table Magic, Dover; ISBN 0-486-40403-X. 1998.
- Carruth, Rick. Mental Math and Mentalism Download PDF