Spreadsheet - Magic Squares

Task

Create a spreadsheet that checks is an array of 9 numbers is a magic square.

Description

A magic square is a 3x3 grid of numbers in which each row, each column and each major diagonal adds up to the same total. Here is an example:

2	7	6
9	5	1
4	3	8

You can quickly verify that:

• The three rows each add up to 15 (2 + 7 + 6 = 15; 9 + 5 + 1 = 15; 4 + 3 + 8 = 15).
• The three columns each add up to 15 (2 + 9 + 4 = 15; 7 + 5 + 3 = 15; 6 + 1 + 8 = 15).
• The two diagonals each add up to 15 (2 + 5 + 8 = 15; 4 + 5 + 6 = 15).

Therefore this is a magic square.

Instructions

(a) Create a new Excel spreadsheet and save it as "Magic Squares.xls".

(b) Create a region on the spreadsheet that allows you to type in a magic square.

(c) Create a number of checks to see if it is a magic square.

(d) Use your sheet to work out which of these are magic squares and which are not.

4 2 9 8 6 1 3 7 5	9 2 4 0 5 10 6 8 1	10 0 12 8 7 6 3 14 4	11 6 7 4 8 12 9 10 5
4 3 2 -1 5 6 7 2 1	5 4 6 6 5 4 4 6 5	55 30 15 10 50 40 35 20 45	49 22 31 16 34 52 37 46 19

Hints

You might like to work out what the square's magic number is supposed to be first, by adding all the numbers together and dividing by three.