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Magic Squares

Under Review

A Magic Square is a square in which all the cells in any row or column add up to the same amount. This applies up and down and diagonally.

The challenge of Magic Squares is to blank out some of the numbers in the square and have the students fill in the blanks. In order to do that they need to find the Magic Number. In the above example, 30 is the Magic Number.

The Magic Squares exercise set randomly generates these squares once you select the base and increment numbers. Once the squares are generated, you can customize the worksheet for your class. Depending on the age and abilities of your class you will want to blank out 2, 3 or more spaces in the square.

Change the number of exercises

  1. Click on the box labeled "Number of Exercises" in the options panel.

  2. Type in a new number or use the up and down arrows to change the value. You can choose any number from 1 to 200.

Change the number of exercises in a row

  1. Select "Exercises per Row" in the options panel.

  2. Click the down arrow to choose a new number from the list or use Auto.

Notes:

  • If you are using the default auto settings, the number of questions per row will change automatically when you adjust the font size or the low/high number ranges.

  • For word problems exercises sets, you can only choose 1 or 2 exercises per row.

Change the row spacing

Set the spacing between rows of exercises in 100ths of an inch (25 = 1/4 inch, 40 = 1cm).

  1. Select the input field for the Row Spacing option in the options pane.

  2. Type a new value in the field or use the up and down arrows to increase or decrease the value. Valid range is 0 to 300.

Show title

  1. To show the exercise set Title, select the check box for the Show Title option in the options pane.

  2. To hide the exercise set title, deselect the check box.

Show instructions

  1. To show the exercise set Instructions, select the check box for the Show Instructions option in the options pane.

  2. To hide the exercise set instructions, deselect the check box.

Set the square size

  1. To set the square size, select the Square Size option in the options pane.

  2. Select the desired size.

Base and Increment Values

The Base and Increment values control the range of numbers that will be used as the starting point - Base - and the Increment used between the values.

Change the range of values

To achieve values within a set range, set the the high end of the range and the low end of the range.

  1. To set the high end of the range, select the input field for the Range High option in the options pane and enter a new value to the maximum allowed for that exercise.

  2. To set the low end of the range, select the input field for the Range Low option in the options pane and enter a new value to the minimum allowed for that exercise.

Note

To locate the range for any particular option, check the definition area at the bottom of the options pane when an option is selected. Some exercises allow negative values to be entered for either the high or low end of the range by using the hyphen as the negative sign, i.e. -10, -999, -1000.

Change the number of clues

  1. Select the input field for the Clues option in the options pane.

  2. Type a new value in the field or use the up and down arrows to increase or decrease the value. Valid values are 1 to 8.

Change the cell size

Sets the cell size in 100ths of an inch (25 = 1/4 inch, 50 = 1 cm).

  1. Select the input field for the Cell Size option in the options pane.

  2. Type a new value in the field or use the up and down arrows to increase or decrease the value. Valid values are 25 to 100.

Change the magic number label text

To change the magic number label text, select the Magic Number Label Text option in the options pane and enter the desired text directly into the input field.

Optional Display Settings