In the classroom: 4×4 magic squares

Abstract

In his painting “Melencolia,” Albrecht Dürer used a fourth order magic square in the upper right hand corner. These 4×4 magic squares were supposed by Renaissance astrologers to combat melancholy. Magical squares are actually very unmagical. They are square arrays of numbers whose sums in all rows, columns, or diagonals are the same. They were called magic squares by the ancients because it was thought that they brought good health and luck.