Hummer's Mind Reader

This magic trick has been invented by Bob Hummer long, long ago [Gardner].
Your very first action is to select an object and swap the remaining two. Now, if the
computer knew which one has not changed its position, it would be immediately able to
announce your selection: you selected the one that has not moved. In mathematical terms,
you applied a permutation that left one of the objects fixed. Each of your successive actions
can be described by another permutation and the total result is their product, which is yet
another permutation. When you arrive at the original order, this product is exactly the
inverse of the very first (unannounced) permutation. (As a matter of fact, the permutation
and its inverse coincide in this case.) So the computer that easily keeps track of your actions,
knows exactly what it is. When the "Announce" button is pressed, the computer checks its
stored permutation for the one object that has not been moved from its original position. This
is the object you thought of! If more than 1 or none of the objects has been moved, the
computer knows that you made a mistake in your bookkeeping and warns you accordingly.
Bob Hummer invented the trick when computers were a novelty the size of a good classroom.
At the time, the trick had to be performed by a human magician. So an important part of
Hummer's invention was a mechanical procedure that made keeping track of your (i.e. one of
the spectators') actions simple.
But let's reverse the roles. Assume now you are a magician and wish to impress your audience.
Call a volunteer spectator to lend you a hand.
Select three fingers on one hand and assign them numbers: 1, 2, 3. Press the thumb of the
hand to the finger #1. Ask the volunteer to arrange three objects in a line, think of one and
swap the other two. Ask him to proceed swapping two objects at a time and calling out either
their names or their locations by number. If the names are called, you will have to interpret
the calls as referring to two numbers. On the first call, if the numbers were 2 and 3, do
nothing. But if the spectator called 1 and 2 or 1 and 3, move the thumb to the finger #2 or #3,
as the case might be. On the next call, if that number was called out, move the thumb to
another finger, otherwise keep where it was. Apply the same procedure to all successive
steps.
When the volunteer claims to finish by returning to the original order, your thumb points to
one of the fingers. If it points to finger #1, the object that occupied the first location has not
moved. This is exactly what you are looking for. If the thumb points to, say, finger #2, then
the very first (unannounced) permutation swapped fingers #1 and #2 and left finger #3 fixed.
Similarly, if the thumb points to finger #3, finger #2 is the one to announce.
(Colm Mulcahy of Spelman College, Atlanta, GA wrote an excellent column where the trick
has been presented with cards rather than coins.)

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