Magic star puzzle for educational mathematics

• Main Authors: Yee, Siang Gan, Fong, Wan Heng, Sarmin, Nor Haniza
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Q Science; QA Mathematics; QA76 Computer software
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/51151/; http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4801222
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

One of the interesting fields in recreational mathematics is the magic number arrangement. There are different kinds of arrays in the arrangement for a group of numbers. In particular, one of the arrays in magic number arrangement is called magic star. In fact, magic star involves combinatorics that contributes to geometrical analysis and number theory. Hence, magic star is suitable to be introduced as educational mathematics to cultivate interest in different area of mathematics. To obtain the solutions of normal magic stars of order six, the possible sets of numbers for every line in a magic star have been considered. Previously, the calculation for obtaining the solutions has been done manually which is time-consuming. Therefore, a programming code to generate all the fundamental solutions for normal magic star of order six without including the properties of rotation and reflection has been done. In this puzzle, a magic star puzzle is created by using Matlab software, which enables a user to verify the entries for the cells of magic star of order six. Moreover, it is also user-friendly as it provides interactive commands on the inputs given by the user, which enables the user to detect the incorrect inputs. In addition, user can also choose to view all the fundamental solutions as generated by the programming code.