During this year's Spring Festival Gala, magician Liu Qian performed a magic trick involving playing cards. The ingenious design of the trick created a high level of engagement for the audience, prompting many to take out their own decks of cards and join in to "witness the miracle" with Liu Qian.
Countless people across the country successfully matched the cards in their hands, but the host, Nigemaiti Rehemann from Peking University, failed...
After the magic performance ended, the CCTV Spring Festival Gala host Sa Beining directly exposed it, letting netizens across the country know that "Xiao Ni's deck of cards didn't match!" This related topic instantly trended on hot searches.
Even though the "magic failed," Xiao Ni's nervous demeanor added to the comedic effect, becoming a highlight of the Spring Festival Gala! Netizens jokingly said: Xiao Ni's job is safe now~
What's the secret behind this "miracle" magic trick?
While the Spring Festival Gala was still ongoing, Liu Minghao, Li Xinyu, and Yin Ziyin, undergraduate students of the School of Mathematical Sciences, Peking University, class of 2021; Wang Ziru, Huang Tianming, and Wang Meitan, undergraduates of the class of 2022; and Pan Haoxiang and Wang Weisheng, undergraduates of the class of 2023, published a popular science article on the official WeChat account of the Student Union of the School of Mathematical Sciences, Peking University, analyzing this magic trick from a mathematical perspective.
