Magician displays five 18" lengths of rope and counts them from hand to hand. He says that the trick he is about to do only requires four ropes, so he throws one away. He counts the ropes again and he still has five! Hmmmm...must have made a counting error the first time, says the magician, so he throws another one away. He counts again and he STILL has five. This is repeated again and again and each time the magician still has five ropes left. The magician says they must be magic ropes because if he starts with five ropes (counts them) and throws away one (throw one away), he should be left with four. After counting them, he still has five ropes.
