(I guess it is possible, but the odds are way against it.)

According to the article, the number of possible sequences is
8,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

[dlewis.net]

80,658,175,170,943,878,571,660,636,856,403,766,975,289,505,440,883,277,824,000,000,000,000 ways to arrange 52 distinct cards.

If they were shuffled randomly, that'd be tough.

But cards are never shuffled randomly.

You can simulate randomness by shuffling 7 times or more, which is why lots of casinos have a 7 shuffle rule. By "simulate" I mean that 7 good shuffles tends to distribute cards beyond the ability of humans to predict clusters.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2012 05:18PM by Chakravartin.

Or they have been shuffled in the exact same order 34 times over the course of time. Or maybe even 65 times. We'll NEVER know.

If I had a penny for every chance I'd have 8-quattuorvigintillion pennys or $8-duovigintillion. That is roughly what my apple stock will be worth is 5 years.

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You can tell a lot about a woman by her hands...
- For example, if they are wrapped around your throat she's probably slightly upset.

Is that number 104 factorial?

Should be just 52 factorial for a single deck, 54 factorial if you include jokers.

No two shuffled decks of cards have ever been in the same order - ever

I bet they have. They come from the factory in a specific order, right?

And you are telling me that it's not possible or probable that they were shuffled exactly the same on the first shuffle at least once in the history of card shuffling?

This thread doesn't suit me.

The number of possible sorting orders is certainly very high, but given that many new decks start out in the same order then the chances that the first one or two shuffles could have the same result (given the same shuffling operation) seems quite high.

Quote
mikebw
The number of possible sorting orders is certainly very high, but given that many new decks start out in the same order then the chances that the first one or two shuffles could have the same result (given the same shuffling operation) seems quite high.

I'd bet a buck or two that there are one or two close up magicians that could do it within a reasonable number of tries.