Arthur Benjamin squares five-digit numbers faster than the audience can key them into a phone, and then explains exactly how, which turns out to be the more entertaining half. The show threads mental arithmetic and card-trick setpieces through real ideas — Fibonacci sequences, properties of pi, number theory — without slipping into a lecture. It is one of the few shows a math-obsessed twelve-year-old and a skeptical adult both leave arguing about.
What to expect
Theater 555 is a mid-size Hell's Kitchen house where Benjamin performs solo with volunteers pulled from the audience. Expect calculators in the crowd checking his work, several sequences that read as magic until he shows the mechanism, and a running time short enough for younger attendees. Bring a phone calculator if you plan to fact-check him.
Good to know
- Theater 555 is at 555 West 42nd Street; take the A, C or E to 42nd Street–Port Authority and walk west
- Audience volunteers are used throughout — sit toward the front if you want to be picked
- It works well for kids around ten and up, and for anyone who liked math and quit
- Bring a phone calculator if you want to verify his mental arithmetic in real time
- This is the last weekend of the run, so seats are thinning
- The venue is step-free from the street with accessible seating available
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Common questions
Is this a kids' show?
It is family-friendly but not childish. Kids around ten and up follow it easily, and adults tend to be the ones checking his arithmetic on their phones.
Do I need to be good at math?
No. The show is built for people who are curious rather than trained, and every trick is explained in plain language after it lands.
Who is Arthur Benjamin?
A mathematician and performer known as a mathemagician, and the National Museum of Mathematics' visiting professor for public outreach.
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