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Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Ghost Whisperer? WTF?!?

posted by on August 7 at 9:18 AM

Umm…Dear Science? Can you hear me? Hello? Well. I’m begging, you. Please (PLEASE!) explain to me in a rational and relatively coherent manner (that involves as little math as possible) exactly HOW THIS SCARY THING WORKS?

Really? HOW?

Honestly, Science. I need you. I don’t get it, and I’m getting a little freaked out over here.

Explain!?!

RSS icon Comments

1

The answer to the math problem will always be a multiple of 9.  Look at the number chart, and you'll see that every multiple of 9 has the same symbol next to it.

(The symbols are shuffled each time the page loads, but whichever symbol winds up next to all the products of 9 is the symbol the crystal ball will show.)

Posted by lostboy | August 7, 2007 9:48 AM
2

Whatever you pick, your result will be divisible by 9. Every multiple of 9 has the same symbol.

Posted by Ben | August 7, 2007 9:50 AM
3

I think this has been Slogged at least once before.

Posted by Gabriel | August 7, 2007 9:51 AM
4

It's a math trick. The variation I've seen before makes you keep adding digits until you arrive at ... 9.

Posted by GrammarCop | August 7, 2007 9:54 AM
5

(10a + b) - (a + b) = 9a
Thus, the answer will always be divisible by 9.

Posted by Iris | August 7, 2007 9:54 AM
6

thank you gentelmen. thank you. and i was just waiting for SOMEONE to say "i think this has been slogged before" and/or "yawn" etc., so gabriel darling? you win!!! hooray!

ps--math is scarrier than ghosts.

Posted by adrian! | August 7, 2007 9:56 AM
7

I'm no mathematician, but this thing is pretty easy to figure out by simple observation. The sum of every possible addition/subtraction operation is divisible by 9, so every 9th number shares the same symbol: 9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72, 81. (I'm sure someone more math minded than me can express this formula in 5-7 characters.) No matter what number you have in mind, the same symbol will come up.

Posted by Ivan Cockrum | August 7, 2007 9:59 AM
8

Your original number can be thought of as (10x + y). That means to calculate the number they ask you you have to do [(10x + y) - (x + y)]. Using algebra you get 9x. Look closely at the chart. Every multiple of 9 has the same symbol. They switch out every time you reload, but the symbol is the same for all 9 of those numbers.

It's not even a math trick. It's really a trick that you won't notice the same symbol is repeated over and over in the grid.

Posted by Andrew | August 7, 2007 10:02 AM
9

Then there's the old "Pick a two-digit number with two different odd digits and OMG YOU PICKED 37!"

Of course, there are only 20 numbers that match that and more people pick 37 than anything else, so it's just odds. That's a little weirder, though, because it's not mathematically provable, it's just bizarre human nature that no one pickes 13 or 95.

Posted by Ben | August 7, 2007 10:06 AM
10

I hate reality.

Posted by ljg | August 7, 2007 10:15 AM
11

So, every six months a new Stranger employee will be hornswoggled by the same simple math trick? For eternity?

Posted by Fnarf | August 7, 2007 10:54 AM
12

Yes, Fnarf. But I already won that prize (@6).

Posted by Gabriel | August 7, 2007 11:01 AM
13

fnarf! gabriel! not anymore! i've discoverd a math trick (based on multiples of 9) that will now allow me to hold the entire contents of slog, since the beginning of time, in my head! you'll never get another repeat from me! again! whatever!

Posted by adrian! | August 7, 2007 11:27 AM
14

It's not the repeat posting that gets me, Adrian. Did you know "gullible" isn't in the dictionary? It's true! Go ask Amy Kate and she'll show you.

Posted by Fnarf | August 7, 2007 11:32 AM
15

oh, fnarf. making fun of people who don't get math is just mean. go pick on fat people. and, for ze record, i never said i thought the freaking thing was supernatural, i merely asked someone to please explain how it worked to me. so clearly i knew it was a TRICK. jesus. i'm not retarded. or, not THAT retarded.

Posted by adrian! | August 7, 2007 11:58 AM
16

Adrian's not so bad at math, really. He can consistently count to 21.

42, when I'm around.

Posted by Paulus | August 7, 2007 12:08 PM
17

Adrian's not so bad at math. He can consistently count to 21.

42, when I'm in the room.

Posted by Paulus | August 7, 2007 12:14 PM
18

The real answer is that everybody picks the number 69. HA!

Posted by Cat in Chicago | August 7, 2007 12:15 PM
19

It's not really that you're a "person who doesn't get math". You're just dumb. Go back to posting about Jake Gyllenhaal.

Posted by Jason Petersen | August 7, 2007 12:39 PM
20

it's too true. what can i say? diaboli virtus in lumbas est.

Posted by adrian! | August 7, 2007 12:54 PM
21

i didn't really bother with the map...once i realized the chart changed each time you reloaded it...i knew it was rigged...if the chart didn't change...this would be amazing!

Posted by uhmmm | August 7, 2007 2:00 PM
22

Lots of Adrian! bashing in this thread. Breaks my heart.

Posted by Mr. Poe | August 7, 2007 3:56 PM
23

On the other hand, computers really can read brain waves, as demonstrated here:

Posted by Matthew | August 7, 2007 3:58 PM
24

I was not bashing Adrian. I was bantering with him. This is my only form of pleasure.

Posted by Fnarf | August 7, 2007 8:35 PM

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