Chapter 23 - Playing with Playing Cards

Summary

A Pastiche of Card Surprises

Surprise 1. Shuffle a deck of cards and divide them into two piles of 26 cards each. Count the number of black cards in the first pile and the number of red cards in the second. What do you notice?

Surprise 2. Shuffle a deck of cards and divide them into two piles, one of 32 cards, the other of 20 cards. Count the number of black cards in the first pile and the number of red cards in the second. Subtract the smaller number from the larger. What do you get?

Surprise 3. Split a deck of cards into two piles according to color. Take ten cards from the red pile and shuffle them into the black pile. Without peeking, select ten cards from the (mostly) black pile and place them into the red pile. Count the number of “foreign” cards in each pile. What do you notice?

Surprise 4. Shuffle a deck of cards, take note of the top card, and place the deck face down on the table. Cut the deck, flip the top pile over, and place it back on the deck. Cut the deck again, deeper this time, and again flip the top pile over and place it back on the deck. Now remove all the cards that face up. What's the next card?

Surprise 5. Arrange a deck of cards so that all cards of the same suit appear in order from Ace, King, Queen, down to two.