The Things That Mathematics Cannot Explain

There are some mind blowing facts and games related to mathematics that even mathematics cannot explain. I just like to call those facts “The Abracadabra of Mathematics”.

Let’s take a look at one of those games or tricks. Assume that you are in a classroom with a population of at least 25 students and I am the instructor. I give a blank paper to each of you to write a digit , any number between 0–9, inclusive. After you are done writing your digit on your paper and fold it, I will collect the papers. Of course I don’t have any idea of what you write on the paper. However, I guarantee that I will know the most written number in the classroom.

Now, my claim is that most of the students chose the number 7. If a student comes and unfolds all of the papers and checks the papers, he would say, “You are correct! But how?” Unfortunately, I don’t have any explanation for this, though it is always true. Most people always choose number 7. I might have played this game more than 100 times, and I have never been wrong.

I learned this game from one of my favorite professors, Ali Nesin, 10 years ago. To play this game, there are some conditions. First, you need at least 25 people. Otherwise, it will be risky. You might think that this is about probability but actually it is not. Since there are 10 digits, the probability of each digit…