alphamagic square

{{Short description|Magic square with extra constraints}}

An alphamagic square is a magic square that remains magic when its numbers are replaced by the number of letters occurring in the name of each number. Hence 3 would be replaced by 5, the number of letters in "three". Since different languages will have a different number of letters for the spelling of the same number, alphamagic squares are language-dependent.[http://mathworld.wolfram.com/AlphamagicSquare.html Wolfram MathWorld: Alphamagic Squares] The term alphamagic was coined by Lee Sallows in 1986.[https://www.nature.com/scientificamerican/journal/v276/n1/pdf/scientificamerican0197-106.pdf?foxtrotcallback=true Mathematical Recreations: Alphamagic Square] by Ian Stewart, Scientific American, January 1997, pp. 106-110[http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=16228&CFID=98321886&CFTOKEN=16671060 ACM Digital Library, Volume 4 Issue 1, Fall 1986]

Example

The example below is alphamagic. To find out if a magic square is also an alphamagic square, convert it into the array of corresponding number words. For example,

class="wikitable" style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;text-align:center;width:6em;height:6em;table-layout:fixed;"
52218
28152
12825

converts to ...

class="wikitable" style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;text-align:center;width:26em;height:6em;table-layout:fixed;"
fivetwenty-twoeighteen
twenty-eightfifteentwo
twelveeighttwenty-five

Counting the letters in each number word generates the following square which turns out to also be magic:

class="wikitable" style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;text-align:center;width:6em;height:6em;table-layout:fixed;"
498
1173
6510

If the generated array is also a magic square, the original square is alphamagic. In 2017 British computer scientist Chris Patuzzo discovered several doubly alphamagic squares in which the generated square is in turn an alphamagic square.[https://www.futilitycloset.com/2017/05/07/double-alphamagic-squares/ Double Alphamagic Squares] Futility Closet, November 16, 2015

The above example enjoys another special property: the nine numbers in the lower square are consecutive. This prompted Martin Gardner to describe it as "Surely the most fantastic magic square ever discovered."Gardner, Martin (1968), A Gardner's Workout: Training the Mind and Entertaining the Spirit, p. 161, A K Peters/CRC Press, Natick, Mass., July 2001, {{ISBN|1568811209}}

A geometric alphamagic square

File:Sallows_geometric_alphamagic_square.svg

Sallows has produced a still more magical version—a square which is both geomagic and alphamagic. In the square shown in Figure 1, any three shapes in a straight line—including the diagonals—tile the cross; thus the square is geomagic. The number of letters in the number names printed on any three shapes in a straight line sum to forty five; thus the square is alphamagic.

{{Clear}}

Other languages

The Universal Book of Mathematics provides the following information about Alphamagic Squares:[https://books.google.com/books?id=HrOxRdtYYaMC&dq=alphamagic+square&pg=PA12 The Universal Book of Mathematics: From Abracadabra to Zeno's Paradoxes, by David Darling, p. 12, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2004], {{ISBN|0471270474}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/A/alphamagic_square.html |title=Encyclopedia of Science, Games & Puzzles: Alphamagic Squares |access-date=2012-07-25 |archive-date=2017-10-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010024434/http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/A/alphamagic_square.html |url-status=dead }}

:A surprisingly large number of 3 × 3 alphamagic squares exist—in English and in other languages. French allows just one 3 × 3 alphamagic square involving numbers up to 200, but a further 255 squares if the size of the entries is increased to 300. For entries less than 100, none occurs in Danish or in Latin, but there are 6 in Dutch, 13 in Finnish, and an incredible 221 in German. Yet to be determined is whether a 3 × 3 square exists from which a magic square can be derived that, in turn, yields a third magic square—a magic triplet. Also unknown is the number of 4 × 4 and 5 × 5 language-dependent alphamagic squares.

In 2018, the first 3 × 3 Russian alphamagic square was found by Jamal Senjaya. Following that, another 158 3 × 3 Russian alphamagic squares were found (by the same person) where the entries do not exceed 300.

References

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