WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.560 So, Vincent Hedan's 17,000 Digits of Pi, 00:00:05.580 --> 00:00:10.620 which is also a new edition of the old one. 00:00:11.580 --> 00:00:16.060 Well, a new edition, a change—but the other one no longer exists. I don't even know whether 00:00:16.080 --> 00:00:18.368 the first version is still being published. 00:00:18.388 --> 00:00:22.060 So this is the second one. That was to prepare 00:00:22.080 --> 00:00:24.960 for the arrival of the second one. So, the second edition 00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:31.540 of Digits of Pi. I absolutely love this book test, 00:00:31.560 --> 00:00:34.186 really, because I've always liked that scientific side of it. 00:00:34.206 --> 00:00:35.860 It's truly exceptional. The 00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:39.060 routine is extremely strong—really, really good. 00:00:39.720 --> 00:00:43.960 So what's the difference between the first 00:00:43.980 --> 00:00:48.460 and the second? The first, let's say... Well, there's no point talking about it now, 00:00:48.480 --> 00:00:51.091 since it no longer exists. 00:00:51.111 --> 00:00:53.020 So either way, now you'll 00:00:53.040 --> 00:00:55.702 have to buy Pi. For those who have... 00:00:55.722 --> 00:00:57.700 Those who already have it, like Damien... 00:00:57.720 --> 00:00:58.860 For those who already have... 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:04.120 For those who have the first Pi, obviously the second one... 00:01:04.140 --> 00:01:09.880 I wouldn't say it would be useless, 00:01:09.900 --> 00:01:12.660 because that would be a lie, but it won't really add much. 00:01:13.320 --> 00:01:15.580 On the other hand, if you don't have it, Pi is excellent. 00:01:15.600 --> 00:01:16.540 Why is it excellent? 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:22.540 Because even though, in quotation marks, to me it isn't a magic 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:26.100 trick, it's truly a feat. Vincent explains very clearly 00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:31.420 that all the numbers inside, all the digits of Pi, 00:01:31.440 --> 00:01:32.602 he has memorized them. 00:01:32.622 --> 00:01:34.840 So it's more of a feat, but it's such 00:01:34.860 --> 00:01:39.700 an astonishing feat that it becomes something like a magical 00:01:39.720 --> 00:01:42.660 effect. So what's the idea? You explain that 00:01:43.080 --> 00:01:46.540 you bought a book containing the first 17,000 digits of Pi, and you've already learned 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:48.687 some of them—you haven't learned all 17,000. 00:01:48.707 --> 00:01:50.200 You stopped somewhere, 00:01:50.220 --> 00:01:54.460 but you've learned the first pages well. You've still learned 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:57.000 at least 10,000 digits of Pi, maybe a little fewer. 00:01:57.720 --> 00:02:03.700 You've learned the others, but not very well—not yet. So then 00:02:03.720 --> 00:02:07.360 you give this whole speech, and you're going to show people 00:02:07.380 --> 00:02:12.880 that you really know it all by heart. You say, “Go ahead, choose 00:02:12.900 --> 00:02:14.220 a page. Tell me 00:02:14.580 --> 00:02:20.080 the page number,” and boom, you recite the digits of Pi. No, because 00:02:20.100 --> 00:02:25.660 I don't have it. Do you have the other one, the first? No, no, I've completely 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:29.320 forgotten the other one. Even though I had memorized it, since I haven't performed it, 00:02:29.340 --> 00:02:30.220 I've completely forgotten it. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:34.684 So that's how you recite the digits of Pi. 00:02:34.704 --> 00:02:35.800 Then you 00:02:35.820 --> 00:02:41.140 explain... The only thing I still remember is the birthday. You 00:02:41.160 --> 00:02:42.720 explain that, 00:02:43.440 --> 00:02:47.620 to take it further, it's easy because you know it by 00:02:47.640 --> 00:02:52.540 heart. For instance, if I say ABCD, straight away you 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:54.660 can say EFGH, 00:02:55.980 --> 00:03:00.580 because you know that sequence, so it's easy to carry on with 00:03:00.600 --> 00:03:02.362 the sequence. You explain that this works the same way. 00:03:02.382 --> 00:03:03.820 For instance, if you open to a page and 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:08.260 give me, I don't know, a sequence of digits—say, 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:13.480 well, 7463—then boom, we can 00:03:13.500 --> 00:03:16.143 continue because we recognize that sequence. 00:03:16.163 --> 00:03:17.680 So that really proves 00:03:17.700 --> 00:03:20.220 that... No, no, I don't remember it at all. 00:03:20.700 --> 00:03:25.240 I'd really have to think, because I no longer have it in my head. I'd really have to... 00:03:25.260 --> 00:03:29.740 So it proves that we know the digits of Pi and that we've 00:03:29.760 --> 00:03:33.640 memorized the book. It's incredibly baffling, because 00:03:33.660 --> 00:03:35.400 people will say, “Well, okay, he memorized it.” 00:03:35.880 --> 00:03:38.946 Yes, he memorized it, but that's still very impressive. 00:03:38.966 --> 00:03:40.300 And of course, since 00:03:40.320 --> 00:03:45.580 we're talking about Pi, and Pi has 00:03:45.600 --> 00:03:50.380 infinitely many decimal places—at least as far as we know. Maybe it ends somewhere, 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:54.460 but we don't know. For now, computers are still running and 00:03:54.480 --> 00:03:56.998 the digits of Pi still haven't ended. 00:03:57.018 --> 00:03:59.080 So you explain that, inevitably, 00:03:59.100 --> 00:04:03.060 it's almost certain to contain 00:04:04.260 --> 00:04:07.600 everyone's numbers and codes: birthdays, your 00:04:07.620 --> 00:04:11.740 credit card number, your street number, maybe a phone number, or a sequence 00:04:11.760 --> 00:04:13.767 exactly matching a friend's. 00:04:13.787 --> 00:04:16.300 Your PIN—it could contain absolutely everything. 00:04:16.320 --> 00:04:18.660 Because it's infinite and the digits get mixed around, 00:04:19.200 --> 00:04:23.706 they must automatically be in there somewhere. 00:04:23.726 --> 00:04:25.120 Exactly. And 00:04:25.140 --> 00:04:29.680 then you explain that this particular book only contains the first 17,000 00:04:29.700 --> 00:04:33.280 digits of Pi. I tried looking for my 00:04:33.300 --> 00:04:35.680 birthday and didn't find it, but maybe 00:04:35.700 --> 00:04:38.959 yours is in there. And that's how you finish. 00:04:38.979 --> 00:04:40.720 Maybe. Yes, I need to 00:04:40.740 --> 00:04:45.940 think, but we'll see. Then you tell the spectator, “Give me a 00:04:45.960 --> 00:04:49.800 birthday.” And you concentrate—bim, bam, boom. 00:04:53.280 --> 00:04:58.420 Sixty-eight, whatever... So 2609, meaning your sequence would be 26... 00:04:58.440 --> 00:05:01.800 2609. Nine is what, September? 00:05:02.940 --> 00:05:06.700 Then you explain, “I think that's on one of the last pages, and 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:09.714 I haven't learned the last pages very well.” 00:05:09.734 --> 00:05:11.620 It's the kind of 00:05:11.640 --> 00:05:14.080 nonsense you say, but that's what you need to say, because it'll be on one of the 00:05:14.100 --> 00:05:16.080 last pages. You said 26? 00:05:16.860 --> 00:05:22.300 So I think we're already around... 00:05:22.320 --> 00:05:26.460 Yes, I think I've got it. I think I've got it. 00:05:29.160 --> 00:05:34.780 Page 76. Then you do all your spiel, your “calculation system,” 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:37.515 in quotation marks, which is actually quite simple. 00:05:37.535 --> 00:05:39.460 I just need to remember... So, page 76, 00:05:39.480 --> 00:05:41.820 page 76. 00:05:42.900 --> 00:05:47.920 line 18 and column 10, you have the sequence 00:05:47.940 --> 00:05:50.400 2609. So, to repeat: 00:05:51.900 --> 00:05:57.760 17... 18... 76. Line 18, column 10, 00:05:57.780 --> 00:06:02.860 you have the sequence 2609, 00:06:02.880 --> 00:06:05.880 which is your 26/09. And they can give me lots more like that. 00:06:06.420 --> 00:06:12.340 We have all of them, of course, and that's how you end. 00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:17.980 I don't know the method because I haven't learned it, but the birthday 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:19.200 has always amazed me. 00:06:19.860 --> 00:06:24.940 He performed it for us, and it's very strong—truly exceptional. 00:06:24.960 --> 00:06:27.360 That's the only part I remembered, because the rest is the same as the other one. 00:06:28.860 --> 00:06:33.760 I always wondered, “Will this really impress people?” But when 00:06:33.780 --> 00:06:35.879 I saw him perform it, yes, it really is powerful. 00:06:35.899 --> 00:06:37.660 It's incredibly powerful because when you say, 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:43.180 for instance, 78, 3, 10—I don't know, just some digits— 00:06:43.200 --> 00:06:45.300 and the other person immediately gives you what comes next... 00:06:45.660 --> 00:06:47.388 I get the impression he goes fast. 00:06:47.408 --> 00:06:49.900 Does everyone go fast? No, but you can. 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:55.240 He was calling them out to us: eight, nine, seven... No, it goes very fast once 00:06:55.260 --> 00:06:59.580 you've learned it well. I think the print was smaller in the old one. 00:07:00.180 --> 00:07:04.720 The advantage of this one is that the numbers—the letters—are 00:07:04.740 --> 00:07:06.630 larger in the first section. 00:07:06.650 --> 00:07:10.120 So people can follow along while 00:07:10.140 --> 00:07:12.420 you call them out. They're not letters... 00:07:13.860 --> 00:07:19.840 Digits. I think that may be why, when you start 00:07:19.860 --> 00:07:23.620 rattling off all those numbers, everyone can follow, because they're 00:07:23.640 --> 00:07:28.420 large enough. With the old Pi, I think it was very 00:07:28.440 --> 00:07:34.420 difficult in a room of 50 spectators. But with something like this, 00:07:34.440 --> 00:07:37.540 with black digits on a white background, people can follow. Anyway, the spectator reading along confirms that 00:07:37.560 --> 00:07:38.716 what you're saying is true. 00:07:38.736 --> 00:07:40.900 There's a section where they're very small, because 00:07:40.920 --> 00:07:45.280 there are a lot of them—17,000, after all. So 00:07:45.300 --> 00:07:47.520 the entire first section is large and the second is smaller. 00:07:48.120 --> 00:07:52.160 And you explain that you've already learned the first section easily. 00:07:52.180 --> 00:07:53.320 So that's why 00:07:53.340 --> 00:07:56.440 he managed to fit everything in: one section is small and one is 00:07:56.460 --> 00:08:01.000 large. I hope that's why he made some digits large—I don't 00:08:01.020 --> 00:08:04.140 know whether I'm talking nonsense. No, but even if that isn't 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:10.300 why, it's very good. Then the second thing that changed compared with 00:08:10.320 --> 00:08:13.920 the first one is that... 00:08:17.280 --> 00:08:22.028 No, I was about to say something silly about that too. 00:08:22.048 --> 00:08:23.140 Anyway, there are 00:08:23.160 --> 00:08:25.860 explanations about Pi. It's... 00:08:27.240 --> 00:08:32.980 There's text—for example, Einstein is in there, though I don't remember 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:34.000 why. 00:08:34.920 --> 00:08:38.500 There's the Pi symbol, for instance, and some of the history 00:08:38.520 --> 00:08:44.160 of the number Pi. That's interesting because even that is, in quotation marks, 00:08:45.300 --> 00:08:49.120 coded. If the spectator names a page, and instead of naming 00:08:49.140 --> 00:08:53.500 a page that contains digits of Pi, they try to 00:08:53.520 --> 00:08:56.356 catch you out by naming a different kind of page, 00:08:56.376 --> 00:08:58.300 well, since you're supposed 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:02.860 to have memorized the book because you have a photographic memory— 00:09:02.880 --> 00:09:06.880 that's what Vincent Hedan explains inside—you can 00:09:06.900 --> 00:09:10.060 say, “But that page doesn't contain digits of Pi. It contains 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:16.060 a photograph of a place connected with Pi,” and boom, 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:18.000 you make the claim even stronger, because 00:09:18.540 --> 00:09:23.800 it truly proves that you've memorized the book. It adds 00:09:23.820 --> 00:09:27.940 a little something extra. If you go on Amazon, you can buy it for six euros. You 00:09:27.960 --> 00:09:31.720 can buy it for six euros. Yes, perhaps I wasn't supposed to say that. 00:09:31.740 --> 00:09:33.960 You can buy it for six euros—we're among magicians here. 00:09:34.380 --> 00:09:37.960 A friend bought one and asked me, “Can't you give me 00:09:37.980 --> 00:09:41.920 the instructions? I managed to find it second-hand and everything.” 00:09:41.940 --> 00:09:46.180 But when I picked up his book, I said, “You didn't... You bought the real 00:09:46.200 --> 00:09:50.880 Pi book!” Meaning it looks identical, but contains the actual digits of Pi. 00:09:51.240 --> 00:09:55.780 You can even buy that one and give it to the spectator at the end, but it isn't 00:09:55.800 --> 00:09:58.761 the same. It's the same without being the same. 00:09:58.781 --> 00:09:59.920 Vincent Hedan made 00:09:59.940 --> 00:10:02.820 exactly the same thing, but as 00:10:03.660 --> 00:10:08.800 a coded book. In other words, he released to the general public 00:10:08.820 --> 00:10:14.380 a real book with the actual digits of Pi, which is useless to a 00:10:14.400 --> 00:10:18.700 magician. Exactly—but interesting to people who want to 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:20.647 see the real digits of Pi. 00:10:20.667 --> 00:10:23.080 So he took the idea all the way, 00:10:23.100 --> 00:10:28.780 putting a real book into circulation so... I don't know. You can 00:10:28.800 --> 00:10:34.300 buy it and, at the end of the show, say, “Here, I'm giving you the book. You can try 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:36.246 to do what I did and memorize it properly.” 00:10:36.266 --> 00:10:38.860 So it really is designed so that people, 00:10:38.880 --> 00:10:40.020 if they get hold of it... 00:10:40.560 --> 00:10:42.553 Yes, yes, but it is the book. 00:10:42.573 --> 00:10:46.300 Exactly. So it's good; it's very clever 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:50.440 to take the research that far. It's very, very good. In any case, the 00:10:50.460 --> 00:10:53.264 routine is exceptional. I'll never stop saying that. 00:10:53.284 --> 00:10:54.220 I went to look at 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:57.760 the reviews from people who bought it. Some say, “Sure, it's useless, 00:10:57.780 --> 00:11:00.540 but it's fun to have all those digits of Pi 00:11:00.900 --> 00:11:04.960 lined up one after another.” And that's someone who bought it, so he isn't a 00:11:04.980 --> 00:11:08.860 magician. He just thought, “I felt like treating myself, so I bought all the real 00:11:08.880 --> 00:11:13.680 digits of Pi.” There you go. You really have to see it, and besides, it's... 00:11:14.820 --> 00:11:17.671 It's still a book test that requires... 00:11:17.691 --> 00:11:20.200 This is the new model, I think. 00:11:20.220 --> 00:11:25.780 Of course, it's very simple. Other book tests are very simple too, 00:11:25.800 --> 00:11:28.960 but this one might seem complicated when actually it only requires a little 00:11:28.980 --> 00:11:33.280 work. Oh, yes—no, yes! I nearly forgot the main thing. How stupid of me. 00:11:33.300 --> 00:11:38.020 So, what's the difference? That's why it requires a little 00:11:38.040 --> 00:11:43.960 work. When I say “a little,” it isn't quite as easy... 00:11:43.980 --> 00:11:47.460 No, it isn't as easy as a... Yes, it is easy. 00:11:47.880 --> 00:11:51.280 But some can be performed right away, while this one takes a little 00:11:51.300 --> 00:11:55.000 more time. To do it smoothly without having to think too hard, you need to 00:11:55.020 --> 00:11:59.860 learn it a little. But it's still something very, very simple. 00:11:59.880 --> 00:12:01.680 Compared with 00:12:02.340 --> 00:12:08.320 the first edition, the internal “pseudo-coding” system 00:12:08.340 --> 00:12:12.360 has been changed and simplified. 00:12:13.380 --> 00:12:19.360 And it really has been simplified. To tell you the truth, I read 00:12:19.380 --> 00:12:24.960 the instructions for barely an hour, and I remember almost all 00:12:25.800 --> 00:12:29.680 of the coding, give or take. Whereas I worked on the old one and 00:12:29.700 --> 00:12:34.780 I don't think I remember a single word from it. So that's... 00:12:34.800 --> 00:12:36.671 No, no, I couldn't remember it just like that. 00:12:36.691 --> 00:12:38.080 Actually, I don't remember the order. 00:12:38.100 --> 00:12:39.180 I know the... 00:12:40.200 --> 00:12:43.720 let's call it the coding, but not its order, so I no longer remember it. 00:12:43.740 --> 00:12:49.600 This is good because previously—without revealing too much—you 00:12:49.620 --> 00:12:53.800 associated one thing with another. Now it's instinctive, because 00:12:53.820 --> 00:12:54.700 what 00:12:54.720 --> 00:13:00.280 you see in your mind is numbers. There, 00:13:00.300 --> 00:13:02.733 I'll stop so I don't reveal any more. 00:13:02.753 --> 00:13:05.980 So it really has been redesigned. Words 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:09.340 associated with numbers; now what you directly see is numbers. Let's put it 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:10.360 that way, if you like. 00:13:10.500 --> 00:13:11.885 So it's even easier. 00:13:11.905 --> 00:13:14.320 They're still words associated with numbers, but 00:13:14.340 --> 00:13:16.632 it's easier. What we see in our minds is numbers. 00:13:16.652 --> 00:13:17.980 Exactly. So it's 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:21.840 really simple. There isn't a number nine in it, though. Now... 00:13:22.680 --> 00:13:27.100 That's something I just noticed. Is that...? Yes, but not in 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:31.500 the first sequences. Anyway, that's how it is. 00:13:32.760 --> 00:13:36.290 So yes, it really is much, much simpler. 00:13:36.310 --> 00:13:37.360 I'll try—I'll try 00:13:37.380 --> 00:13:40.574 to include the routine Damien performed for us. 00:13:40.594 --> 00:13:42.040 No, you should put the 00:13:42.060 --> 00:13:44.976 routine directly in its teaser. 00:13:44.996 --> 00:13:47.260 Yes, but you need to see it. 00:13:47.280 --> 00:13:49.320 Exactly, you need to see 00:13:49.740 --> 00:13:54.340 Vincent perform it because, just as he describes it in the text, 00:13:54.360 --> 00:13:59.800 he performs it exactly that way—with the right delivery, the right timing, the right pauses, the right 00:13:59.820 --> 00:14:02.560 moment to sit down and think. And you'll realize 00:14:02.580 --> 00:14:06.040 that every time he moves to the next phase, it gets stronger and stronger. It's 00:14:06.060 --> 00:14:07.620 an absolute killer of an 00:14:09.180 --> 00:14:13.960 effect. Even though, as I keep saying, it isn't 00:14:13.980 --> 00:14:19.900 magic, because you tell people that you've memorized the 17,000 00:14:19.920 --> 00:14:23.880 digits of Pi, it's so powerful that it becomes incredibly strong. 00:14:24.300 --> 00:14:26.061 Exactly. So there you go. 00:14:26.081 --> 00:14:28.900 No, it's good—very good for people who enjoy 00:14:28.920 --> 00:14:31.920 performing this style of trick. Bravo. Very good.