Start with an empty 3x3 grid and draw the numbers from 1 to 9 in sequence, starting just outside the square and proceeding diagonally. You should get something like the following figure:
It doesn't matter where you start, as long as the diagonal pattern is preserved. Anyway, with this simple operation you have correctly placed five numbers out of nine already! To place the remaining four numbers, all you have to do is to move each of them to the cell that is farthest away. This is very easy too, as that simply means each number moves three steps either horizonally or vertically:
And there it is, a magic square:
The magic number is 3x5=15 and in fact the sum of all rows, columns and diagonal yields 15... try it by yourself!
And well... that's all there is to it.
Copyright (c) 2003 Alessandro Scotti. All rights reserved.
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