This de Bruijn Stuff Is Cool but Can It Get You a Job?
This de Bruijn Stuff Is Cool but Can It Get You a Job?
This interactive demonstration simulates the “Partitioning People” card trick. In this effect, five spectators each receive consecutive cards from a specially arranged deck. Based on their card suits, they naturally form into groups - for example, if three people have hearts and two have clubs, they form a grouping pattern of “3,2”.
The deck is arranged so that at each possible cut point, the next five cards will create a unique grouping pattern. Enter a grouping pattern below (like “14,25,3” for one person with the same suit as person 4, another pair with positions 2 and 5, and person 3 alone) to find out which position to cut the deck and which five cards to distribute.
Instructions: Enter a grouping pattern using positions (1-5) to show which cards share the same suit. For example:
- "14,25,3" means positions 1 and 4 share a suit, positions 2 and 5 share a suit, and position 3 has a unique suit
- "1345,2" means positions 1,3,4,5 share the same suit, and position 2 has a unique suit
- "123,45" means positions 1,2,3 share a suit, and positions 4,5 share a different suit
This simulation demonstrates the mathematical principles described in the reading, where a carefully arranged deck allows the performer to predict exactly how spectators will group themselves based on the suits of their cards. The arrangement ensures that each possible partition of 5 people appears exactly once in the sequence.
Practice Your Memory
Test your pattern recognition skills! The deck below shows all cards face down, color-coded by suit (hearts are red, clubs are black, spades are green, diamonds are blue, and the joker is yellow). Click anywhere to cut the deck, then try to guess the pattern of the next five cards.
1. Click any card to cut the deck at that position
2. Enter your guess for the pattern in the boxes below (H for hearts, C for clubs, S for spades, D for diamonds)
3. Click "Check Pattern" to verify your guess