In preparation for a card trick, a certain number of cards are taken from a standard deck of cards.

The trick goes as follows: Cards are taken from the top of the deck and transferred to the bottom, each time calling out a letter in the name of a card, starting with A, then C, then E, spelling out ACE; the next, fourth, card transferred is then shown to be the ace of hearts. This continues, saying "T" for the fifth card, "W" for the sixth card and "O" for the seventh card, and showing the eighth card to be the two of hearts.

Since letters are transferred to the bottom, this continues as many times through this modified deck as needed to have shown all the hearts through the king, and then all the spades, from ace through king.

How many cards from the full deck were used to make this modified deck so as to let the trick work?

Precisely 47 cards were used from the full deck to make this trick work.

Posted by K Sengupta on 2023-05-22 00:19:06