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Can you steal the most powerful wand in the wizarding world? - Dan Finkel

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The fabled Mirzakhani wand is the most powerful magical item ever created. And that’s why the evil wizard Moldevort is planning to use it to conquer the world. You and Drumbledrore have finally discovered its hiding place in a cave, but the wand is hidden by a system of 100 magical stones. Can you figure out how to get to the wand before Moldevort? Dan Finkel shows how.


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Meet The Creators

  • Educator Daniel Finkel
  • Director Igor Coric, Artrake Studio
  • Narrator Addison Anderson
  • Music Cem Misirlioglu
  • Sound Designer Cem Misirlioglu
  • Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
  • Senior Producer Anna Bechtol
  • Associate Producer Sazia Afrin
  • Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
Additional Resources for you to Explore
Is there anything special about the number 100 in this problem? How would the outcome change (or would it) if there were 50 stones instead of 100? What if there were 500 stones? Which parts of the argument hold, and which don’t?

Here’s another argument to attack this problem based on the idea that the number doesn’t really matter. Solve the riddle with only two stones. Then suppose you had solved it with any number of stones, say, N stones. Could you solve it with N + 1 stones? This type of argument is known as induction, and can help us solve some tricky problems, like this one.

Customize this lesson

Create and share a new lesson based on this one.

About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Daniel Finkel
  • Director Igor Coric, Artrake Studio
  • Narrator Addison Anderson
  • Music Cem Misirlioglu
  • Sound Designer Cem Misirlioglu
  • Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
  • Senior Producer Anna Bechtol
  • Associate Producer Sazia Afrin
  • Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal

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