Subscribe now

A name game

A school class consisted of Elsa, John, Marty, Paul, Sheila, Smack and Suzy. I explained to them that a 3-by-3 magic square consists of an array of nine different numbers such that any row, column or diagonal has the same sum. I asked each of them to make one using only whole numbers between 1 and 26 inclusive.

They each succeeded and I then asked them to replace their numbers by letters using A=1, B=2, C=3 and so on. Amazingly, in every case but one the child’s magic square contained the letters of their name.

Whose did…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with New Scientist events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, subscribe today with our introductory offers

Popular articles

Trending New Scientist articles

Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop