# It's reading my miiiiiind!!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-reading-my-miiiiiind/380444>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 14, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-reading-my-miiiiiind/380444 "2006-11-14T21:44:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-reading-my-miiiiiind/380444/1 "2006-11-14T21:44:14Z")

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I realize there’s only a handful of symbols [the mystic ball on this site](http://www.mysticalball.com/) can pick, but how does it know which one?

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**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-reading-my-miiiiiind/380444/2 "2006-11-14T21:45:56Z")

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When you add the two digits of a two-digit number together and subtract the result from the original answer, you will always get a multiple of 9. All the symbols beside multiples of nine on that page are the same.

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**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-reading-my-miiiiiind/380444/3 "2006-11-14T21:46:27Z")

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If you do the math the only values you can get are multiples of 9. if you look 0,9,18 etc are all the same symbol.

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**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-reading-my-miiiiiind/380444/4 "2006-11-14T21:53:25Z")

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Ah, and so when you click to “try it again” all the multiples of 9 have a different symbol, so it appears to be random.

I think I’m going to save this site in my miiiiiiind and do some thought control experiments on my nieces and nephews!!!

(Insert evil laugh.)