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| Math Central | Quandaries & Queries |
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Question from sue: This is for my 10 year old nephew. His math question is: he has a 4X 4 magic square. The top squares are from left to right: 359,356,353,366. He says that columns are supposed to equal 796. We can't figure it out and would really appreciate any help we could get. |
Hi Sue,
If you subtract 350 from each element of the magic square you have I think you will find you have a magic square composed of the integers from 1 to 16. The sum of each row, column and diagonal being 34. If you add 190 to each entry in this magic square you will obtain a magic square with the row, column, diagonal sum being 4 × 190 + 34 = 794. Off by 2. Can you see how to add 2 to 4 of the entries in this magic square to give one with the sums being 796?
Penny
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