🧮 The Nine Times Fingers

The Nine Times Fingers for kids: the whole trick

Somebody calls out any number from 1 to 10 and asks you to times it by nine. You glance at your hands and say the answer straight away. You can do it again and again, faster than they can. It's a level 1 apprentice trick for ages 7 to 11 (grades 2nd–5th), takes 5 minutes to learn, and needs nothing but your hands. Flick, the shop's rabbit, reads every step aloud with a picture, so a child can follow it alone.

The secret

Hold up all ten fingers and fold down the finger for their number. The fingers left of the fold are the tens and the fingers right of it are the ones.

What you need

Nothing at all: this one is done with your hands.

How to do it

1. Hold up both hands, palms towards you, all ten fingers up.
2. Ask somebody for any number from 1 to 10. Say they pick 4.
3. Count from your left pinkie to the fourth finger, and fold that one down.
4. Count the fingers left of the fold: 3. Count the fingers right of it: 6.
5. Put them together and say it like magic: 36!

Magic words to say

“My fingers have the whole nine times table hidden in them. Give me any number from one to ten, and my hands will tell me the answer.”

Pro tips

• Practise until you can do it without moving your lips, so it looks like you just know.
• Do it with your hands under the table, then bring them up only to say the answer.
• Teach it to a friend afterwards. It's the most useful trick in the shop.

If something goes wrong

If you get muddled, say "my fingers are tired, ask me another" and count more slowly the next time.

Safety notes

• No fire, no flames and nothing sharp in a child's hand anywhere in the Magic Shop. Nothing ever goes in a mouth, a nose or an ear.

Why it works

Folding finger number n leaves n − 1 fingers to its left and 10 − n to its right, which reads as 10 × (n − 1) + (10 − n). That is 9 × n for every number from 1 to 10.

What kind of trick is this?

🔮 Prediction. You knew all along, or you read their mind. Almost every trick ever invented is one of eight kinds, and knowing which one you're watching is how magicians work out how a new trick is done.

The skill it teaches: Practise like a pro. Ready means ten times in a row without looking at your hands. Perform it and it counts towards the Mind Reader badge.

Questions about the nine times fingers

Can you do magic with no props?

Yes, and those are the handiest tricks you can own, because you always have them with you. Number tricks need nothing but your voice, and some illusions need only your hands.

How do magicians read minds?

They don't hear your thoughts. Mind-reading tricks use maths that always lands on the same answer, a secret peek, or a code agreed with a partner beforehand. Magicians who do mind tricks are called mentalists.

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