Related papers: Euler and magic squares (De quadratis magicis)
Magic squares are a fascinating mathematical challenge that has intrigued mathematicians for centuries. Given a positive (and possibly large) integer \( n \), one of the main challenges that still remains is to find, within a computational…
Nobody has discovered any perfect cuboid and there is no formula to deliver all possible Euler bricks. During investigations of famous open problems regarding the perfect cuboid and Euler brick; I have found new important conjectures on…
We consider a classial case of irrational integrals containing a square root of a quadratic polynomial. It is well known that they can be expressed in terms of elementary functions by one of three Euler's substitutions. It is less known…
In this note we will present how Euler's investigations on various different subjects lead to certain properties of the Legendre polynomials. More precisely, we will show that the generating function and the difference equation for the…
Leonhard Euler likely developed his summation formula in 1732, and soon used it to estimate the sum of the reciprocal squares to 14 digits --- a value mathematicians had been competing to determine since Leibniz's astonishing discovery that…
Euler wants to find rational numbers (integers) x and y such that x+y is a square and x^2+y^2 is a fourth power. He parametrizes these with two other variables that satisfy certain equations.
We review and comment on some works of Euler and his followers on spherical geometry. We start by presenting some memoirs of Euler on spherical trigonometry. We comment on Euler's use of the methods of the calculus of variations in…
E394 in the Enestrom index. Translated from the Latin original, "De partitione numerorum in partes tam numero quam specie datas" (1768). Euler finds a lot of recurrence formulas for the number of partitions of $N$ into $n$ parts from some…
Leonhard Euler, the most prolific mathematician in history, contributed to advance a wide spectrum of topics in celestial mechanics. At the Saint Petersburg Observatory, Euler observed sunspots and tracked the movements of the Moon.…
The following notes are intended to make a small digression on the topics mentioned in the title of the same, since these were not addressed in the past tribute by the Institute of Physics of the UdeA. We believe more than platitude try to…
We show the 3 by 3 magic square of squares problem equivalent to solving quartic polynomials with certain factorization constraints over an abelian extension of the rationals. We analyze a particular case in which said extension is assumed…
Intriguing symmetries are uncovered regarding all magic squares of orders 3, 4, and 5, with 1, 880, and 275,305,224 distinct configurations, respectively. In analogy with the travelling salesman problem, the distributions of the total…
We examine quadratic surfaces in 3-space that are tangent to nine given figures. These figures can be points, lines, planes or quadrics. The numbers of tangent quadrics were determined by Hermann Schubert in 1879. We study the associated…
We provide some historical context to the study of solid angles carried out by Euler in his memoir \emph{De mensura angulorum solidorum} (On the measure of solid angles). We extend our study to the general notion of angle (not only solid).…
Euler's solution in 1734 of the Basel problem, which asks for a closed form expression for the sum of the reciprocals of all perfect squares, is one of the most celebrated results of mathematical analysis. In the modern era, numerous proofs…
We find the numbers of $3 \times 3$ magic, semimagic, and magilatin squares, as functions either of the magic sum or of an upper bound on the entries in the square. Our results on magic and semimagic squares differ from previous ones in…
People typically consider only European mathematics as orthodox, often intentionally or unintentionally overlooking the existence of mathematics from non-European societies. Inspired by Maria Ascher's two well-known papers on sand drawings…
Euler noted the relation $6^3=3^3+4^3+5^3$ and asked for other instances of cubes that are sums of consecutive cubes. Similar problems have been studied by Cunningham, Catalan, Gennochi, Lucas, Pagliani, Cassels, Uchiyama, Stroeker and…
We consider the problem of finding 4 rational squares, such that the product of any two plus the sum of the same two always gives a square. We give some historical background and exhibit one such quadruple.
In this lecture I will talk about three mathematical puzzles involving mathematics and computation that have preoccupied me over the years. The first puzzle is to understand the amazing success of the simplex algorithm for linear…