Wednesday 29 June 2011

The "Gilbreath" Principle My ASS!!!

Back in the 50's, when I was a math professor at Columbia, I discovered an interesting principle that could be used as an application in card magic. I called it "The Solayme Principle". And even though I PUBLISHED IT IN ARMAGEDDON, JUNE 1957, all the credit went to some bozo named Norman Gilbreath, WHO DIDN'T PUBLISH UNTIL JULY 1957!!! Since then, it has always been referred to as the "Gilbreath Principle". Well I'm finally going to put this matter to rest once and for all. THAT IDEA WAS MINE, I DID THE MATH, AND HE STOLE IT!!!

So next time you do an effect using this principle, just remember who came up with it: ME, THAT'S WHO!!! It's about time people gave it its proper name: "The Solayme Principle".

BS

6 comments:

  1. Wow Barry, I really never knew that. It would be great if you could explain how it ACTUALLY works! Many of us use it, but few understand the math...

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  2. Hi Richy. It's pretty complex, and I don't think my explaining its complexity is going to shed much light on this complex principle, being as it is so very complex. But maybe Don could put it in terms that a 'layman' could understand?

    BS

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  3. It is with pleasure, Barry, that I undertake the task.

    Imagine, if you will, a Bach fugue; perhaps Fuga 18. a 4. in G sharp minor, taken from Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, would be apposite?

    Very good, imagine the subject and then an identical copy. Reverse the copy and insert it into the original, unreversed, subject. Choose any section of the resulting harmonic structure, and you will find that, although cacophonous to the untrained ear, the original structures remain implicit, albeit in slight deshabille.

    There you have, in a nutshell, "The Solayme Principle', explained through the language of St Cecilia.

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  4. Thanks Don, that's exactly it!!

    BS

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  5. Actully, tahts not it. If you look heer

    http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Garden-of-Gilbreath

    it explanes it really well. But respec to you, Barry, for not kicking Gilbreats ass!!! He shudnt have stole ur idea in the 1st place!! lol

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