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Equal products and sums (Posted on 2016-02-17) Difficulty: 4 of 5
I was shown a 4x4 matrix whose entries are distinct positive integers below 32, whose row sums are the same (say S), and whose column products are the same (P).

I believe that there are numerous solutions fitting the above definition, and challenge the solvers to find as many as possible - the values of S and P are up to you.

Rem : It is possible to find a solution or two without a computer, but listing all possible solutions is IMHO a hard nut even for a software-based approach.

No Solution Yet Submitted by Ady TZIDON    
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re: computer solution -- a specific subset and the program Comment 4 of 4 |
(In reply to computer solution by Charlie)

Thirteen of these use only numbers from 1 - 27:

  1  2 18 24      45
  8 15 10 12
 20 16  4  5
 27  9  6  3
 4320 
  1  2 18 24      45
  8 15 10 12
 20 16  6  3
 27  9  4  5
 4320 
  1  4 16 24      45
  8 10 15 12
 20 18  2  5
 27  6  9  3
 4320 
  1  2 15 27      45
  9 12 16  8
 20 18  3  4
 24 10  6  5
 4320 
  1  2 18 24      45
 10 12  8 15
 16 20  5  4
 27  9  6  3
 4320 
  1  2 18 24      45
 10 12  8 15
 16 20  6  3
 27  9  5  4
 4320 
  1  8 12 24      45
 10 18  2 15
 16  5 20  4
 27  6  9  3
 4320 
  1  8 12 24      45
 10 18  2 15
 16  6 20  3
 27  5  9  4
 4320 
  1  9 15 20      45
 10  5 24  6
 16  8  3 18
 27 12  4  2
 4320 
  1  9 15 20      45
 10  5 12 18
 16 24  3  2
 27  4  8  6
 4320 
  1  9 15 20      45
 10  5 18 12
 16 24  2  3
 27  4  8  6
 4320 
  1  9 15 20      45
 10  8 24  3
 16  5  6 18
 27 12  2  4
 4320 
  1  9 15 20      45
 10 24  8  3
 16  5 18  6
 27  4  2 12
 4320 

DefDbl A-Z
Dim crlf$, colprod, rowtot, grid(4, 4), used(100), thiscol(4), maxnum, upperleft


Private Sub Form_Load()
 Form1.Visible = True
 
 Text1.Text = ""
 crlf = Chr$(13) + Chr$(10)
 
 Open "equal products and sums.txt" For Output As #2
 maxnum = 27
 
 For upperleft = 1 To maxnum
   Text1.Text = Text1.Text & upperleft & crlf
   used(upperleft) = 1
   grid(1, 1) = upperleft: colprod = upperleft
   chooseFor 2, 1
   used(upperleft) = 0
 Next

 Text1.Text = Text1.Text & crlf & " done"
 Close 2
  
End Sub

Sub chooseFor(row, col)
  DoEvents
    st = upperleft + 1
    If col = 1 Then
      st = grid(row - 1, col) + 1
    Else
      If row = 1 Then
        st = grid(row, col - 1) + 1
      End If
    End If
 
 If row = 3 And col = 1 Then Text2.Text = grid(1, 1) & Str(grid(2, 1)) & crlf
    
    For choice = st To maxnum
    
      If used(choice) = 0 Then
        used(choice) = 1
        grid(row, col) = choice
        
        If col = 1 Then colprod = colprod * choice
        
        good = 1
        If col > 1 Then
          If row = 1 Then
            thiscol(col) = choice
          Else
            thiscol(col) = thiscol(col) * choice
          End If
          q = Int(colprod / thiscol(col))
          r = colprod - q * thiscol(col)
          If r > 0 Then good = 0
          If row = 4 And thiscol(col) <> colprod Then good = 0
        End If
        
        If good Then
          If col = 4 And row = 1 Then
            rowtot = grid(1, 1) + grid(1, 2) + grid(1, 3) + grid(1, 4)
            r2 = rowtot - grid(2, 1) - grid(2, 2) - grid(2, 3)
            r3 = rowtot - grid(3, 1) - grid(3, 2) - grid(3, 3)
            r4 = rowtot - grid(4, 1) - grid(4, 2) - grid(4, 3)
            If choice * r2 * r3 * r4 <> colprod Then good = 0
            If r2 < upperleft Or r3 < upperleft Or r4 < upperleft Then good = 0
            If good Then
                If r2 > maxnum Or r3 > maxnum Or r4 > maxnum Then good = 0
                If good Then
                  If used(r2) Or used(r3) Or used(r4) Then good = 0
                  If r2 = r3 Or r3 = r4 Or r2 = r4 Then good = 0
                  If good Then
                    grid(2, 4) = r2
                    grid(3, 4) = r3
                    grid(4, 4) = r4
                    For r = 1 To 4
                    For c = 1 To 4
                      Text1.Text = Text1.Text & Str(grid(r, c))
                      Print #2, mform(grid(r, c), "##0");
                    Next
                    If r = 1 Then
                     Text1.Text = Text1.Text & "    " & mform(rowtot, "###0") & crlf
                     Print #2, "    "; mform(rowtot, "###0")
                    Else
                     Text1.Text = Text1.Text & crlf
                     Print #2,
                    End If
                    Next
                    Text1.Text = Text1.Text & colprod & crlf
                    Text1.Text = Text1.Text & crlf
                    Print #2, colprod
                    Print #2,
                  End If
                End If
            End If
          Else
            r = row: c = col
            r = r + 1
            If r > 4 Then
              c = c + 1: r = 1
            End If
            chooseFor r, c
          End If
        End If
        
        If col = 1 Then colprod = colprod / choice Else thiscol(col) = thiscol(col) / choice
        
        used(choice) = 0
      End If
    Next
End Sub

Function mform$(x, t$)
  a$ = Format$(x, t$)
  If Len(a$) < Len(t$) Then a$ = Space$(Len(t$) - Len(a$)) & a$
  mform$ = a$
End Function


  Posted by Charlie on 2016-02-17 20:19:11
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