Uncle Norm – otherwise known as “Norm the Normificent” – is trying to make a magic show appear! He’s got the cape, the magic wand, and lots of hocus pocus, but seems baffled by how to do his own tricks. The show’s chance of success improves when the Rads reveal a real “mathemagician,” who explains the luck and logic behind simple magic tricks that use playing dice. Prepare to be astonished by the fact that opposite faces on a die always sum to 7! Presto math-amazing!

The Gist: This episode is about number cubes (die), their numerical configurations and their history in games and magic around the globe. In the curriculum, children are required to predict the frequency of an outcome in a simple probability experimentor game (e.g., “I predict that an even number will come up 5 times and an odd number will come up 5 times when I roll a number cube 10 times.”), then perform the experiment, and compare the results with the predictions, using mathematical language. They are also introduced to number fact families (in this example different ways to sum to seven).