Tap-an-Animal // 5

`I see. And those species are--?'

`Haven't the foggiest idea, Crock. You're the one who's supposed to be logical!'

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Answer on page 252

Tap-an-Animal This is a great mathematical party trick for children. They take turns to choose an animal. Then they spell out its name while you, or another child, tap successive points of the ten-pointed star. You must start at the point labelled `Rhinoceros', and move in a clockwise direction along the lines. Miraculously, as they say the final letter, you tap the correct animal.

Spell the name

to find the

animal.

How does it work? Well, the third word along the star is `Cat', which has three letters, the fourth is `Lion', with four, and so on. To help conceal the trick, the animals in positions 0, 1 and 2 have 10, 11 and 12 letters. Since 10 taps takes you back to where you started, everything works out perfectly.

To conceal the trick, use pictures of the animals ­ in the

........................................... diagram I've used their names for clarity.

two page view?

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