Squares

You have a 10 × 10 10 \times 10 grid containing the numbers 1 - 100 as shown below, all in order, except that 13 is switched with 40, (in red).

Now for the question...

How many ways can you pick two different 3 × 3 3 \times 3 groups of 9 numbers (like the one in green above) such that the sum of the 9 numbers inside is the same for both of them?


The answer is 10.

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1 solution

Geoff Pilling
Jul 26, 2016

There are 64 64 possible 3 x 3 3x3 grids, and from left to right on the top, their sums are 108 108 , 117 117 , 126 126 , ....

Similarly, each row of 8 8 such 3 x 3 3x3 grids is an arithmetic progression that increases by 9 9 each time... The 40 40 has had 27 27 subtracted, so any 3 x 3 3x3 grid three to the left of any 3 x 3 3x3 grid containing the 13 13 will suffice. There are 3 3 such grids.

By the same argument, for any 3 x 3 3x3 grid containing the 40 40 , a corresponding 3 x 3 3x3 grid can be found 3 3 to the right of it. And there are 6 6 such grids.

Finally we have the box containing 13 in the lower right matching the box containing 40 in the top middle.

So in total we have 6 + 3 + 1 = 10 6+3+1 = \boxed{10} ways.

I think there are 10 combinations, not 9.

Janardhanan Sivaramakrishnan - 4 years, 10 months ago

Where did you get 40 from?

alex wang - 4 years, 10 months ago

The boxes that were switched were 13 and 40.

Geoff Pilling - 4 years, 10 months ago

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