Magic Squares 5 : Creating a 5x5 magic square using 25 terms in Arithmetic Progression

Problem Background : A 5x5 magic square is an arrangement of 25 squares arranged in 5 rows and 5 columns. We are given 25 terms in an arithmetic progression(AP) to place one term in each of the squares such that the sum of each of the rows and columns is equal.

Solution : We assume the terms of the AP are a,a+d,a+2d,...,a+23d,a+24d where a is the first term and d is the common difference.

General Solution of a 5x5 magic square

Derived corollary : It can be noted that we get a magic square of any 25 consecutive integers when d=1 and a is the first term among the 25 integers. 

Magic square of any 25 consecutive integers when a is the first integer

Example: If a=1 and d=1, we get a magic square of the integers from 1 to 25.

Magic square of first 25 natural numbers

Q.E.D

© Rishabh Bidya