The Magic Square

As a finance major, I am most comfortable doing math and solving puzzles on excel. That is why it was an easy decision to tackle this problem with my trusty friend. With no rhyme or reason, I decided to start with trial and error. For optimal problem solving, I made sum formulas at the end of each row to see if I was on the right track and a formula at the bottom right that would tell me if I have solved the puzzle or if I should keep trying. For attempt one I tried to start with the largest number (9) then fill in the adjacent squares with the smallest numbers, then go from there. This attempt eventually proved to not work. On my second attempt, I chose a diagonal approach with the three largest numbers, knowing that no two of them could be on the same row (horizontally or diagonally). I then chose to fill in the empty corners with the numbers that made the most sense to me. After that step, I filled in the boxes accordingly and think I got extremely lucky. I enjoy puzzles and because of that I enjoyed this blog post the most out of all the homework assignments thus far.