Put -5,-4,-3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3 in a 3 square by 3 square grid so each row, column comes to same number.

Question

How do you work out the number that the columns and rows should come too? Is the square of the number that all the individual numbers equal when added and subtracted?

Answer 1

It helps to start with a traditional magic square using the numbers 1 to 9. Here's one:

2 9 4

7 5 3

6 1 8

The numbers -5 to 3 are to replace 1 to 9 so we subtract 6 from each of the numbers in the above square:

-4 3 -2

1 -1 -3

0 -5 2