Monday, October 19, 2020

Constructing a Magic Square

please work on figuring out this 3X3 magic square, where each number from 1 to 9 is used once, and where all the rows, columns and diagonals add to 15!

 My solution:

1. The first thing I thought was to put 5 in the center because I found these pairs (1, 9), (2, 8), (3, 7), (4, 6) plus 5 is equal to 15.  


 2. 9 is the biggest number, start looking at this one. I can only find two combinations with 9 that sum to 15 : 1+5+9=15, 2+4+9=15. So 9 cannot be placed at corner. Then 1, 2 , and 4 can be placed in the square.


  3.  Then the rest of the numbers can be placed in the square by simply using addition.



2 comments:

  1. Lovely! This is similar to the way I've solved this problem too. I hope you would be willing to share this with the class if we have time today!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ok, I am glad to share with the class.

    ReplyDelete

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