Square of squares
There is a famous unsolved problem in mathematics, called the square of squares, mainly popularised by numberphile. The goal is the create a 3x3 square meeting the following two criteria:- 9 unique square numbersToday, we are not going to solve this problem, but a slight adaptation of it. In particular, we are going to apply the following two changes:
- Adding to the same value along all rows, columns and diagonals.
- Numbers can instead of being a perfect square, also be the negative of a perfect square.Our squares then looks as follows: \begin{matrix} b^2&-d^2&c^2\\ a^2&0 & -a^2\\ -c^2&d^2&-b^2 \end{matrix} I will now prove that such a square cannot exist.
- The centre of the square has to be zero.
The above configuration leads to 2 equations: a^2 + b^2 = c^2 b^2 + c^2 = d^2 as a^2 + 2b^2 = d^2, a and d have the same parity. Define: x := \frac{d-a}{2} and y := \frac{d+a}{2} then is a^2 = (x-y)^2 b^2 = 2xy c^2 = x^2 + y^2 d^2 = (x+y)^2 If we look at the second equation, b^2 is even, so b^2 is a multiple of 4. therefor x or y has to be even. As all formulas are symmetric over switching x and y, one can assume without loss of generality that x is even. Now if b' := b/2 and x' := x/2 then b'^2 = x'y If a product is a perfect square, each factor can be written as a common factor times a square, so x' = q\xi^2 and y = q\gamma^2. Plugging this in in the third equation gives: c^2 = q^2(4\xi^4 + \gamma^4) So 4\xi^4 + \gamma^4 is a perfect square. Let's call it n^2. n^2 = 4\xi^4 + \gamma^4 Now assume we have the smallest non-zero solution for n,\xi,\gamma If n and \gamma are even, then n' := n/2 and \gamma' := \gamma/2. n'^2 = \xi^4 + 4\gamma'^4 So our solution was not the smallest, and this leads to a contradiction. Now if we assume n and \gamma are odd. 4\xi^4 = (\gamma^2-n)(\gamma^2+n) as \gamma^2 \equiv 1 (mod 4) and n is odd, one of the factors on the right side is 2 (mod 4) and the other 0 (mod 4). SO for one factor the power of prime factor 2 is 1, and for the other it is even. So the power of prime factor 2 for the full right side is odd. As the left side is square, the power of prime factor 2 is even. So as both sides of the equation have a different prime decomposition, this leads to a contradiction. Therefore, there is no nontrivial solution. This being said, thare is obviouslty a trivial solution, where all nine sqaures are zero.