EXPLORING FIBONACCI MAGIC SQUARES

BROTHER U. ALFRED
St. Mary's College, California

Magic s q u a r e s have long had a strong appeal to people m a t h e m a t i c a l l y inclined a n d s o h a v e Fibonacci n u m b e r s .

When we put the

two ideas t o g e t h e r , what do we get: h a r m o n y or conflict?

J u s t to m a k e the p r o b l e m perfectly c l e a r , the two concepts i n volved will be d e l i m i t e d as p r e c i s e l y as p o s s i b l e for the p u r p o s e of
this investigation.

A m a g i c s q u a r e will be c o n s i d e r e d a s a s q u a r e

a r r a y of d i s t i n c t positive i n t e g e r s such that the s u m s of all rows and

columns a s well as of the two m a i n diagonals is the s a m e .

A com-

mon example of a t h r e e - b y - t h r e e m a g i c s q u a r e i s :
'

By Fibonacci n u m b e r s we shall u n d e r s t a n d the positive e l e m e n t s

of the sequence:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55,

Again let it be

noted that the e l e m e n t s of the m a g i c s q u a r e m u s t be distinct i n t e g e r s

so that, for e x a m p l e , it would not be allowable to u s e 1 twice on the
plea that it is two different F i b o n a c c i n u m b e r s .
Two p o s s i b i l i t i e s p r e s e n t t h e m s e l v e s :

(1) E i t h e r i t w i l l be p o s -

sible to c r e a t e one or m o r e m a g i c s q u a r e s with the Fibonacci n u m b e r s ; or (2) It will be p o s s i b l e to prove that no such m a g i c s q u a r e s
m a y be f o r m e d .
The investigation m a y b e g e n e r a l i z e d in v a r i o u s ways;

(1) If we

allow both positive and negative i n t e g e r s ; (2) If we take a s e l e m e n t s

the t e r m s of the g e n e r a l i z e d Fibonacci sequence:

a, b, a+b, a+2b,

2a+3b, e t c .
The r e s u l t s of this exploration will be published in the Februairy
1963 i s s u e of the Fibonacci Q u a r t e r l y .
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