Associative magic square
{{Short description|Mathematical concept of arrangement of numbers in a square}}
File:Magic Square Lo Shu.svg, pairs of opposite numbers sum to 10]]
File:Albrecht Dürer - Melencolia I (detail).jpg showing a 4 × 4 associative square]]
An associative magic square is a magic square for which each pair of numbers symmetrically opposite to the center sum up to the same value. For an n × n square, filled with the numbers from 1 to n2, this common sum must equal n2 + 1. These squares are also called associated magic squares, regular magic squares, regmagic squares, or symmetric magic squares.{{r|andrews|belste|nordgren}}
Examples
For instance, the Lo Shu Square – the unique 3 × 3 magic square – is associative, because each pair of opposite points form a line of the square together with the center point, so the sum of the two opposite points equals the sum of a line minus the value of the center point regardless of which two opposite points are chosen.{{r|llnww}} The 4 × 4 magic square from Albrecht Dürer{{'s}} 1514 engraving {{nowrap|Melencolia I}} – also found in a 1765 letter of Benjamin Franklin – is also associative, with each pair of opposite numbers summing to 17.{{r|pasles}}
Existence and enumeration
The numbers of possible associative n × n magic squares for n = 3,4,5,..., counting two squares as the same whenever they differ only by a rotation or reflection, are:
:1, 48, 48544, 0, 1125154039419854784, ... {{OEIS|A081262}}
The number zero for n = 6 is an example of a more general phenomenon: associative magic squares do not exist for values of n that are singly even (equal to 2 modulo 4).{{r|nordgren}} Every associative magic square of even order forms a singular matrix, but associative magic squares of odd order can be singular or nonsingular.{{r|llnww}}
References
{{reflist|refs=
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| contribution = Notes on pandiagonal and associated magic squares
| contribution-url = https://archive.org/details/MagicSquaresCubesAndrewsEdited/page/n237/mode/2up
| edition = 2nd
| pages = 229–244
| publisher = Open Court
| title = Magic Squares and Cubes
| year = 1917}}
| last1 = Bell | first1 = Jordan
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| doi = 10.1002/jcd.20143
| issue = 3
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| mr = 2311190
| pages = 221–234
| title = Constructing orthogonal pandiagonal Latin squares and panmagic squares from modular -queens solutions
| volume = 15
| year = 2007| s2cid = 121149492
}}
| last1 = Lee | first1 = Michael Z.
| last2 = Love | first2 = Elizabeth
| last3 = Narayan | first3 = Sivaram K.
| last4 = Wascher | first4 = Elizabeth
| last5 = Webster | first5 = Jordan D.
| doi = 10.1016/j.laa.2012.04.004
| issue = 6
| journal = Linear Algebra and Its Applications
| mr = 2942355
| pages = 1346–1355
| title = On nonsingular regular magic squares of odd order
| volume = 437
| year = 2012| doi-access = free
}}
| last = Nordgren | first = Ronald P.
| doi = 10.1016/j.laa.2012.05.031
| issue = 8
| journal = Linear Algebra and Its Applications
| mr = 2950468
| pages = 2009–2025
| title = On properties of special magic square matrices
| volume = 437
| year = 2012| doi-access = free
}}
| last = Pasles | first = Paul C.
| doi = 10.1080/00029890.2001.11919777
| issue = 6
| journal = American Mathematical Monthly
| jstor = 2695704
| mr = 1840656
| pages = 489–511
| title = The lost squares of Dr. Franklin: Ben Franklin's missing squares and the secret of the magic circle
| volume = 108
| year = 2001| s2cid = 341378
}}
}}
External links
- {{mathworld|urlname=AssociativeMagicSquare|title=Associative Magic Square|mode=cs2}}
{{Magic polygons}}