Out Shuffle - Mathematics

Mathematics

The number of out shuffles required to return a deck of cards of even size, N, to original order is given by the multiplicative order of 2 modulo (N − 1).

For example, for a deck size of N = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 ..., the number of out shuffles needed are: 1, 2, 4, 3, 6, 10, 12, 4, 8, 18, 6, ... (sequence A002326 in OEIS).

For a standard deck of 52 playing cards, the number of out shuffles required to return the deck to its original order is 8.

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