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Magic square
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===Albrecht Dürer's magic square=== [[Image:Albrecht Dürer - Melencolia I (detail).jpg|thumb|Detail of ''Melencolia I'']] The order four normal magic square [[Albrecht Dürer]] immortalized in his 1514 engraving ''[[Melencolia I]]'', referred to above, is believed to be the first seen in European art. The square associated with Jupiter appears as a talisman used to drive away melancholy. It is very similar to [[Yang Hui]]'s square, which was created in China about 250 years before Dürer's time. As with every order 4 normal magic square, the magic sum is 34. But in the Durer square this sum is also found in each of the quadrants, in the center four squares, and in the corner squares (of the 4×4 as well as the four contained 3×3 grids). This sum can also be found in the four outer numbers clockwise from the corners (3+8+14+9) and likewise the four counter-clockwise (the locations of four [[Queen (chess)|queens]] in the two solutions of the [[eight queens puzzle|4 queens puzzle]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.muljadi.org/MagicSquares.htm |title=Virtual Home of Paul Muljadi |access-date=2005-03-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051109234521/http://www.muljadi.org/MagicSquares.htm |archive-date=2005-11-09 }}</ref>), the two sets of four symmetrical numbers (2+8+9+15 and 3+5+12+14), the sum of the middle two entries of the two outer columns and rows (5+9+8+12 and 3+2+15+14), and in four kite or cross shaped quartets (3+5+11+15, 2+10+8+14, 3+9+7+15, and 2+6+12+14). The two numbers in the middle of the bottom row give the date of the engraving: 1514. It has been speculated that the numbers 4,1 bordering the publication date correspond to Durer's initials D,A. But if that had been his intention, he could have inverted the order of columns 1 and 4 to achieve "A1514D" without compromising the square's properties. {| class="wikitable" style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;text-align:center;width:8em;height:8em;table-layout:fixed;" |- | 16 || 3 || 2 || 13 |- | 5 || 10 || 11 || 8 |- | 9 || 6 || 7 || 12 |- | 4 || 15 || 14 || 1 |} Dürer's magic square can also be extended to a magic cube.<ref>"[http://sites.google.com/site/aliskalligvaen/home-page/-magic-cube-with-duerer-s-square Magic cube with Dürer's square]" Ali Skalli's magic squares and magic cubes</ref>
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