The Mathematics of Card Shuffling Cornelia Van Cott, University of San Francisco

A classic card shuffling technique used by both magicians and gamblers is the so-called perfect shuffle. A perfect shuffle splits a deck of cards into two equal stacks and then perfectly interlaces the cards from the two stacks. The mathematics behind the perfect shuffle has a rich history, including everything from mathematical card tricks to sophisticated research. We will explore all of this, and we'll extend our discussion to a few other card shuffling techniques, as well.