Amazing.. how does IT work?

[Democracy Died]

http://www.dslextreme.com/users/exstatica/psychic.swf

They've predicted about 7 out of 9 numbers I picked out.

[DS1]

1. If it only got 7 of 9 right, you did it wrong

It's perfect. And just a trick

[ewagner]

2. 5 out of 5...

Okay..what's the trick?

[SCDem]

3. 2 out of 3 for me

[kick-ass-bob]

4. 2 of 3 for me.

what is the trick?
doesn't make sense to me.

[kick-ass-bob]

8. Oh - I see - I actually checked again after I did it

and the shape had changed.

[Richardo]

5. If you did the math right it should have been 9 of 9.

The symbol changes every time - but note that it's the same symbol for the multiples of 9. (27, 36, 54, etc. up to 81)

Look at 9 and that's the symbol that will appear every time.

[Squeech]

6. No, I think this is how it works

Every time you add the digits of a number (any number, not just one of two digits) you get that number's "modulo 9," i.e. its remainder when you divide it by 9. (Actually sometimes you get a bigger number; add the digits of 91, you get 10, but then add *those* digits and you ultimately get 1, which is the correct remainder).

The point is, when you subtract the sum of the digits from the original number, you have to get a number divisible by 9. And if you look at the chart, every number which is divisible by 9 translates to the symbol that shows in that cheesy crystal ball.

[jswordy]

7. OOOH MY ACHING HEAD!

I HATE MATH!

Next...

[unblock]

9. ***SPOILER***

look at the chart and notice that 9, 18, 27, 36, etc. all have the same symbol.....

[unblock]

11. ***SPOILER DETAILS***

pick two digits, a and b. the two-digit number is 10*a+b.
it asks you to subtract a+b from this number

so 10*a+b
minus a+b
equals 9*a.

so the result is always divisible by 9.

each time you refresh, the symbols change around, but 9,18,27,36,45,54,63,72, and 81 always have the same symbol as each other, and that's the symbol that "magically" appears in the crystal ball.

[Zero Gravitas]

10. simple really

No matter what number you pick, the answer will be nine times the first digit (if the two digits are x and y, we get the number (10x+y), subtracting (x+y) gets us 9x) So for 23 it is 23-(2+3)=18,
24-(2+4)=18 etc. 35-(3+5) =27, 36-(3+6) = 27 etc.

Therefore there are only nine possible outcomes for two digit numbers: 9, 18, 27 etc..

The trick here is to make sure that each of those multiples of 9 has the same symbol and then randomly assign symbols to the rest of the numbers and each time you play, a new symbol is assigned to the multiples of nine so its harder for the user to notice the pattern.

If it got two out of nine "wrong" thats because you did the math in your head wrong :)

[Freebird12004]

12. aaahhh fooie

cute