Geometric Magic Squares: A Challenging New Twist Using Colored Shapes Instead of Numbers (Dover Recreational Math)

Traditional magic squares are squares of numbers in which the rows, columns, and diagonals all add up to the same total. With a voluminous literature going back some 2,500 years, the universal assumption has ever been that magic squares are inherently arithmetical objects. In this innovative work by a British engineer, the author initiates a Copernican revolution in our understanding by replacing numbers with two-dimensional forms. The result is not merely a novel kind of geometrical magic square but a revelation that traditional magic squares are now better seen as the one-dimensional instance of this self-same geometrical activity.