Geometric Magic Squares: A Challenging New Twist Using Colored Shapes Instead of Numbers

Dover Puzzle Books: Math Puzzles

Traditional magic squares are squares of numbers in which the rows, columns, and diagonals all add up to the same total. With a voluminous literature going back some 2,500 years, the universal assumption has ever been that magic squares are inherently arithmetical objects. In this innovative work by a British engineer, the author initiates a Copernican revolution in our understanding by replacing numbers with two-dimensional forms. The result is not merely a novel kind of geometrical magic square but a revelation that traditional magic squares are now better seen as the one-dimensional instance of this self-same geometrical activity.