Saturday, June 21, 2025
– Live Presentation with
Margaret Kepner –
Session at 12 Noon Atlanta time
(check your time here)
Please join us starting 10 minutes before this session using the following button.
For published CoM presentations please visit the G4G YouTube channel
After this virtual CoM presentation on Zoom, we will meet for an informal social session in a different Zoom space where we can all see each other (see the blue button below). That Zoom meeting will start around 1pm ET.
Please join the social using the following button:
Magic Squares: Crowdsourcing the Magic
A magic square is a square array of numbers, usually consecutive integers, for which the sum of each row, column, and main diagonal is equal to the same constant. Expressing the numbers in magic squares in visual formats can help to reveal interesting properties and patterns. Although magic squares have been around for thousands of years, there is always more ‘magic’ to be found. Technology has facilitated new ways of exploring the properties of magic squares. I will discuss a distributed computing project that put to rest a longstanding problem concerning magic squares containing knight’s tours, as well as an online contest involving magic squares that ‘hold water.’ These efforts have enriched the subject of magic squares. I will describe several examples of interesting magic squares, and illustrate how I have employed them in developing my artwork.
The coming ‘Magic Squares: Crowdsourcing the Magic’ CoM Zoom presentation sounds fascinating, and I hope to be able to attend. While exploring topics such as magic tori, area magic squares, polyomino area magic tori, and bimagic queen’s tours, I had already noticed that these displayed interesting patterns. But judging from the quality of Margaret Kepner’s mathematical artwork, I’m sure her presentation will encourage me to experiment further with the graphics of magic squares, spheres and tori!