Editing Magic square (section)

==Magic squares in popular culture==
[[Image:Macau stamp featuring geometric magic square.jpg|thumb|Macau stamp featuring geometric magic square]]
 
* In [[Goethe's Faust]], the witch's spell used to make a youth elixir for Faust, the ''{{Interlanguage link|Hexen-Einmal-Eins|de|3=Hexen-Einmal-Eins}}'', has been interpreted as a construction of a magic square.<ref>Holger Vietor: ''Das Hexen-Einmaleins – der Weg zur Entschlüsselung''. In:  ''Goethe-Jahrbuch 122.'' Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2005, {{ISBN|3-8353-2195-1}}, S.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=Fgp4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA325 325–327] (German).
</ref><ref>[[Norbert Herrmann]]: ''Mathematik und Gott und die Welt.'' 3-te Auflage, Springer, Berlin/ Heidelberg 2018, {{ISBN|978-3-662-56387-8}}, S. 27–31 (German).</ref>
* The English composer [[Peter Maxwell Davies]] has used magic squares to structure many of his compositions. For example, his 1975 ''Ave Maris Stella'' uses the 9×9 magic square of Moon while his 1977 ''A Mirror of Whitening Light'' uses the 8×8 magic square of Mercury to create the entire set of notes and durations for the piece. His other works that employ magic squares include [[The Lighthouse (opera)|''The Lighthouse'']] (1979), [[Resurrection (opera)|''Resurrection'']] (1987), [[Strathclyde Concertos|''Strathclyde Concerto No. 3 for Horn and Trumpet'']] (1989), as well as many of his symphonies.<ref name="Roberts 2015">{{cite web|author=Gareth E. Roberts|url= http://mathcs.holycross.edu/~groberts/Courses/Mont2/Handouts/Lectures/Davies-web.pdf| title=Composing with Numbers: Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Magic Squares|date=March 23, 2015|access-date=December 25, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Roberts 2016">{{cite book|first=Gareth E. | last= Roberts|title=From Music to Mathematics: Exploring the Connections | chapter=8 Mathematical Modern Music |publisher= JHU Press| date=2016 | isbn= 9781421419183 }}</ref> According to Davies' own account:
<blockquote> 
A magic square in a musical composition is not a block of numbers – it is a generating principle, to be learned and known intimately, perceived inwardly as a multi-dimensional projection into that vast (chaotic!) area of the internal ear – the space/time crucible – where music is conceived. ... Projected onto the page, a magic square is a dead, black conglomeration of digits; tune in, and one hears a powerful, orbiting dynamo of musical images, glowing with numen and lumen.<ref name="Roberts 2016"/>
</blockquote>
* Magic squares, including [[Benjamin Franklin]]'s, appear as clues to the mystery in [[Katherine Neville (author)|Katherine Neville]]'s novels ''[[The Eight (novel)|The Eight]]'' and ''[[The Fire (Neville novel)|The Fire]]''.
* Magic squares play a role in [[Steve Martin]]'s 2003 novel ''[[The Pleasure of My Company]]''.
* Dürer's magic square and his ''[[Melencolia I]]'' both also played large roles in [[Dan Brown]]'s 2009 novel, ''[[The Lost Symbol]]''.
* In the 2011 Korean television drama ''[[Deep Rooted Tree]]'', [[King Sejong]] is shown attempting to construct a 33×33 magic square using lunch boxes. He ultimately discovers the "pyramid method" and completes the magic square with the help of an army of court attendants. This inspires him to create a more just form of government ruled by reason and words rather than military might.
* On October 9, 2014, the post office of [[Macao]] in the [[People's Republic of China]] issued a series of stamps based on magic squares.<ref>[https://www.macaupost.gov.mo/Philately/?lang=en-us Macau Post Office web site] {{webarchive | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111231833/https://www.macaupost.gov.mo/Philately/?lang=en-us |date=2014-11-11 }}</ref> The figure below shows the stamps featuring the nine magic squares chosen to be in this collection.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2014/nov/04/macaus-magic-square-stamps-just-made-philately-even-more-nerdy Macau's magic square stamps just made philately even more nerdy] [[The Guardian]] Science, November 3, 2014</ref>
* The metallic artifact at the center of ''[[The X-Files]]'' episode "[[Biogenesis (The X-Files)|Biogenesis]]" is alleged by Chuck Burks to be a magic square.<ref name="Green 1997">{{cite web|author=Michelle Erica Green|url= http://www.littlereview.com/getcritical/xfiles/biogenes.htm|title=Biogenesis on The X-Files|work=littlereview.com|publisher=The Little Review|date=June 15, 1997|access-date=March 25, 2017|quote=Moreover, it's a magic square, a pattern in which God supposedly instructed the early Hebrews to gain power from names or their numeric equivalents.}}</ref><ref name="Handlen 2012">{{cite news|author=Zack Handlen | url=http://www.avclub.com/review/the-x-filesmillennium-biogenesisgoodbye-to-all-tha-87755 | title=The X-Files: "Biogenesis" / Millennium: "Goodbye To All That"|newspaper=[[The A.V. Club]]|publisher=The Onion, Inc.|date=November 17, 2012|access-date=March 25, 2017|quote=I love when they bring the nerdy FBI guy in to explain the concept of "the magic square", which he does by telling us that magic squares have been around for a while, and then nothing else. Unless I missed something, all I have at this point is that magic squares are squares that people once thought were magic.}}</ref>
* Mathematician [[Matt Parker]] attempted to create a 3×3 magic square using square numbers in a [[YouTube]] video on the ''[[Numberphile]]'' channel. His failed attempt is known as the [[#Parker square|Parker square]].
* The first season ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' episode "Brotherhood" involves completing a magic square as part of a puzzle guarding a powerful Ancient artefact.
* Magic Squares are also featured in the 2019 Spanish film [[Live Twice, Love Once|''Vivir dos veces'']].
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