16 (number) old days, weighing was done with a beam balance to make equal splits. It would be easier to split a heap of grains into sixteen equal parts through successive divisions than to split into ten parts. Chinese Taoists did finger computation on the trigrams and hexagrams by counting the finger tips and joints of the fingers with the tip of the thumb. Each hand can count up to 16 in such manner. The Chinese abacus uses two upper beads to represent the 5s and 5 lower beads to represent the 1s, the 7 beads can represent a hexadecimal digit from
Thumb tip remains in the left fist. While the audience is misdirected looking at the object, the performer may turn to his left and dump the tip into his pocket leaving him clean. Silk is often used because it will compress into a small space in the tip. Thumb tips and finger tips can be obtained at magic dealers. While the explanation is simple, the use and handling of the tip requires quite some skill and practice to perfect. Ultimately, the beauty of the illusion, as with most magic, will depend on the skill of the performer, both in the handling and