Magic Squares
Magic squares always feel like a go-to end of term fun activity and one I have never given a particularly large amount of thought to – when I saw this question come up on a facebook maths page I am a member of I wasn’t sure how easy it would be but I talked it through in my head and came to a nice answer (I will go through the answer at the end of this post – Try it out yourself!) and I knew the reason I was able to solve this puzzle so easily was thanks to my new favourite YouTube channel: Cracking the Cryptic
Cracking the Cryptic
It’s hard to describe the pure joy that the YouTube channel crackingthecryptic has given me over the lockdown period. Glorious and regular puzzles that have honestly captivated me for hours on end. For a few weeks solving their latest puzzle over breakfast (and inevitably lunch because they were so tricky) became a minor addiction for me and lead me to many great Aha moments that my housemates soon tired of hearing about!
The above puzzle makes use of a simple 3 by 3 magic square in the middle of the grid that must contain all the digits 1-9 with all rows/columns/diagonals adding to the same amount. But how to even get started? As you know that all together the sum of the numbers 1-9 is 45 that means that each row/column/diagonal has to contain numbers that sum to 15 so that the three rows/columns add to the same amount and together add to 45. Then you can work out what number has to go in the middle an therefore is part of every single row/column/diagonal – the number ends up always being the median of the numbers you had to start with – so in this case it is 5 and that’s your starting point for the rest of the puzzle!
It was this previous knowledge that helped me to answer the question at the top of this post so quickly – because I had seen similar problems in different contexts I was able to use those problem solving skill to quickly find the number that should go in the middle square and then the rest of the problem solves itself from there. The more maths/puzzles you play around with the better you will be in the future!
Some of my favourite CtC puzzles
Below are screenshots and links to some of the bests puzzles I have attempted and sometimes even completed. I urge you to try them yourselves and let us know what you thought.
Post Credits
The more puzzles and problems you grapple with the better you will be at grappling. Also it’s shocking how rarely I actually sit down and concentrate on something for an hour at a time without distractions and these Cracking the Cryptic puzzles gave me many of those hours.
How to solve: You know that as the whole grid must contain the numbers 7-15 the total of everything within the grid must be 99. As there are three rows/columns we divide by 3 to get 33 and therefore each r/c/d must equal 33 so the top left box must be 33-14-7=12
We also know that the number in the middle is the median number from 7-15 so must be 11 and then we fill in the rest of the grid from there! “n” must be 33-11-14 so n = 8
Let us know if you try and of the puzzles by clicking here – Thanks for reading!
NJK
Chelekmaths 
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