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 . In this effect, the tip remains on the magician's thumb while the suction cup is affixed to a small object with a smooth surface (such as a light bulb or empty aluminum can), effectively attaching the object to the thumb. With the fingers spread, the thumb moves the object in such a way that it appears to be floating independently of the hands. A thumb tip can be prepared with a wick protruding slightly from the end, soaked with lighter fluid . This enables the magician to "pick up" a flame, apparently with his or her fingers. Mentalists may