Image: Magic square at the Parshvanatha temple, Khajuraho by RainerTypke, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Magic Squares, Cubes and Hypercubes —From Ancient Origins to Recent Advances
Fields Medalist Manjul Bhargava to speak at CommUniversity Day
WHEN: Saturday, September 26 at 12 noon
WHERE: Student Activities Center Ballroom A
COST: Free and open to the public!
Inscribed near the entrance of the Parshvanath Jain Temple in Khajuraho, India, built around 960 CE, is a 4 × 4 grid of numbers. Every row adds up to 34. So does every column, every diagonal, each of the four quadrants, and the four corners — and that's only the start of it.
Princeton University professor Manjul Bhargava will explain why this particular square is unlike any other ever found, settling a question the geometer H.S.M. Coxeter raised in 1938. He'll also show what happens when you take the idea past two dimensions: there's exactly one such object in every dimension, cubes and hypercubes included.
A Convergence lecture series event presented by:
Manjul Bhargava, PhD
Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University
A Long Island native, Manjul Bhargava is internationally recognized as one of the foremost mathematicians of our times and one of the world's leading experts in number theory. Currently the Brandon Fradd and Robert Gunning Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University, he earned the Fields Medal in 2014 — widely considered the "Nobel Prize of Mathematics" — for revolutionizing how we understand numbers.
Beyond his groundbreaking research, Bhargava serves as President of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and was a primary writer of India’s landmark 2020 National Education Policy. Also an accomplished classical tabla player, he is famous for weaving music, magic
and poetry into his math, making complex ideas accessible and captivating for audiences
worldwide.
CONVERGENCE
Mathematical thinking for curious minds
The Convergence lecture series welcomes curious minds of all kinds to explore the wide world of mathematical thinking. Whether you're a math fan or just math-curious, there's something here for everyone. Each talk offers a fresh perspective — whether it’s diving into real-world applications, unpacking abstract concepts, or just having fun with fascinating patterns, puzzles, and problems. You don’t need to be a math expert — just come ready to think, laugh, and learn.
The series is offered by Stony Brook University’s Institute for Creative Problem Solving in collaboration with the National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath) and Brookhaven National Laboratory.