Interactive Maths - The Interactive Way to Teach Mathematics - Home. 7puzzle blog | Home of the daily Maths Challenge. AIMS Puzzle Corner: Free Math Puzzles. This week’s Puzzle Corner activity is a magic trick with a mathematical, as well as a slight-of-hand, component. I first came across this trick in one of Martin Gardner’s many books on recreational mathematics. I liked it so much that I have been stumping students, friends, and family members with it ever since. In order to make this trick work, you will need to practice it by yourself until the moves (illustrated at bottom) become automatic, before trying it out on someone else. Its success, like the success of many magic tricks, depends on diverting the audience’s in this case, your students’ attention. You can’t do this if you are uncertain of all the moves and take too much time making them. You will need at least three cups to perform this trick.
Begin this trick by explaining that the goal is to get all three cups facing up after making exactly three moves. Next, invite one of the students who was watching to get all the cups facing up in three moves. Performing the trick: 1. 2. I Love Maths Games. Logic Puzzles. The Logic Zone - Logic Problems, Logic Puzzles, Cryptograms.