The Genii Forum

The ever popular Add-A-Number pad has been adapted before to calculators, usually at quite a cost. Paul Daniels has come up with an iPhone / iPod / iPod app which is very good. The spectator can turn on your iDevice and click on the calcutor, then pick three numbers to multiply together. When they hit the equals button, the answer is forced. The total can refer to a page number and word in a book you predicted, the serial number on a bill, anything you want.

You never touch the device yourself. You can force three different njumbers (of your choosing). Or you can have the calculator revert to its normal, ungimmicked self so the spec can punch in numbers to his or her heart's content.

It's very good, I think.

It's 0.69 in the UK which is $1.00, I think, in the U.S.

It's "Paul Daniels Calculator" in the iTunes store.

(I don't work for Paul, or anybody, come to think of it!)

Matt Field

Just bought it, that's really quite nice.

Hmm, just tried it on my very astute ladyfriend, who was instantly baffled, then said "hang on, is it a trick calculator"?

Now, she then proceeded to try it and found it wasn't trick, but nevertheless...

I'll try it again later on less astute people.

Kids nowadays (at least in the US) learn math by estimating the answer prior to working the problem.

Consequently, I know middle school kids who can do problems in their head that I can't do now even as an adult.

I wonder if that makes effects like Add-A-No more transparent to the current crop of younger audiences?

PS: I haven't seen Mr. Daniel's calculator yet, but thus far, the only calculator trick I'm fond of is Al Stanger's Poker Machine. This is mainly because even if the calculator is a "trick calculator" (how else?) the effect still seems impossible.

erdnasephile wrote:PS: I haven't seen Mr. Daniel's calculator yet, but thus far, the only calculator trick I'm fond of is Al Stanger's Poker Machine. This is mainly because even if the calculator is a "trick calculator" (how else?) the effect still seems impossible.

Simply, it is a fake version of the calculator app. Previously you enter your desired number. Come show time, you hand them the phone, tell them to launch the calculator app, people enter 3 numbers and when enter is pressed it displays the number you secretly entered before. After this, the calc returns to a normal mode so any maths done on it will be right.

It is a good implementation of what used to be done with a very expensive fake 'real' calculator.

As I said.

Matt Field