# [Numberphile] - The Square-Sum Problem

Posted 4 years ago
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 As part of my Numberphile series of posts: here is another one about a recent video called The Square-Sum ProblemThe question is: if you have the integers 1 through n, can you arrange that list in such a way that every two adjacent ones sum to a square number. As seen in the video and the extra footage.We can easily check this in the Wolfram Language:Let's see which number can pair up to a pair: SquareEdges[n_Integer?Positive]:=Reap[Do[If[IntegerQ[Sqrt[i+j]],Sow[{i,j}]],{i,n-1},{j,i+1,n}]][[2,1]] Now let's try for 15, as in the main video: n = 15; poss = SquareEdges[n]; gr = Graph[TwoWayRule @@@ poss, VertexLabels -> Automatic]; path = FindHamiltonianPath[gr, PerformanceGoal :> "Speed"] HighlightGraph[gr, BlockMap[Rule @@ # &, path, 2, 1]] giving: {9, 7, 2, 14, 11, 5, 4, 12, 13, 3, 6, 10, 15, 1, 8} In the extra footage, it is revealed that they found the solution for up to n=299. Can we do better? Yes we can! Changing n to 300 in the above code and rerunning gives us the solution in 0.28 sec on my laptop.{289,35,65,259,30,294,67,257,32,292,69,100,44,125,71,154,135,189,211,113,248,8,281,119,205,195,166,158,283,6,250,191,133,156,285,4,252,277,12,244,117,207,193,168,273,16,240,160,164,236,20,269,131,94,230,59,197,92,232,57,199,90,234,22,267,217,224,137,152,73,123,46,150,75,121,48,148,77,179,110,214,270,19,237,163,161,239,17,272,128,41,103,297,27,262,62,227,97,99,190,210,114,175,50,146,79,177,112,212,188,253,3,286,155,134,266,23,233,91,198,58,231,93,196,60,229,95,130,159,165,276,13,243,118,206,194,167,274,15,241,288,1,255,186,138,223,218,143,181,108,88,201,55,170,86,203,53,172,84,37,107,182,142,299,25,264,220,221,140,184,216,225,64,36,85,171,54,202,87,169,56,200,89,235,21,268,132,157,284,5,251,278,11,245,116,208,192,249,7,282,247,9,280,204,120,136,153,72,124,45,151,74,122,47,149,76,180,109,215,185,139,222,219,265,24,300,141,183,106,38,83,173,52,144,81,40,104,296,28,261,63,226,98,127,42,102,298,26,263,61,228,96,129,271,18,238,162,279,10,246,115,209,275,14,242,287,2,254,187,213,111,178,78,147,49,176,80,145,51,174,82,39,105,295,29,260,101,43,126,70,291,33,256,68,293,31,258,66,34,290}and a completely mess of a graph:Can we go beyond? Let's optimize a code a bit, and let's find the solution for larger n:Let's store our intermediate results in the association db: SetDirectory[NotebookDirectory[]]; $HistoryLength=1; db=If[FileExistsQ["squaresumdb.mx"], Import["squaresumdb.mx"] , <||> ]; And now our main code: ClearAll[SquareEdges,SquareEdges2,CheckSol,TryToFind] SquareEdges[n_Integer?Positive]:=Reap[Do[If[IntegerQ[Sqrt[i+j]],Sow[{i,j}]],{i,n-1},{j,i+1,n}]][[2,1]] SquareEdges2[n_Integer]:=Module[{tmp}, tmp=Table[ {i,#}&/@(Range[Ceiling[Sqrt[2 i]],Floor[Sqrt[i+n]]]^2-i) , {i,1,n-1} ]; tmp=Join@@tmp; Select[tmp,Less@@#&] ] CheckSol[l_List]:=Sort[l]===Range[Length[l]]\[And](And@@BlockMap[IntegerQ@*Sqrt@*Total,l,2,1]) TryToFind[n_Integer?Positive]:=Module[{edges,out}, If[!KeyExistsQ[db,n], edges=SquareEdges2[n]; If[Union[Flatten[edges]]===Range[n], edges=TwoWayRule@@@edges; edges=RandomSample[edges]; Do[ out=TimeConstrained[FindHamiltonianPath[Graph[edges],PerformanceGoal:>"Speed"],5+i,$Failed]; If[out=!=\$Failed, If[Length[out]==0, Print[Style["No solution for ",Red],n]; , status=Row[{"Found solution for ",n,":",i}]; ]; AssociateTo[db,n->out]; Break[] ]; Print["Failed ",n,":",i]; edges=RandomSample[edges]; , {i,5} ] , Print["Edges are not connected for ",n]; AssociateTo[db,n->{}] ] ] ] Let's scan the first 1000: Dynamic[status] status = ""; Do[TryToFind[k], {k, 3, 1000}] Export["squaresumdb.mx", db]; Note that if finding the Hamiltonian path takes too long I mix the edges and try again, sometimes, seemingly random, it then finds the solution quickly.I can tell you now that all of them have a solution. In fact I went up to larger numbers and found that all up to 2667 have a solution, and possibly beyond. I attached the notebook and the solutions in form of a mx file. Attachments:
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Posted 4 years ago
 Example: for n=2500, the solution is: {64,1700,416,1985,1984,41,1115,1001,295,434,7,1437,1372,1229,535,2066,2423,941,1175,1850,2375,26,2183,1181,2300,1544,1057,1152,369,1000,2364,1861,164,32,2468,448,1953,963,1537,1944,865,1071,1138,383,101,1663,1253,2111,2245,780,1720,1089,1512,252,837,927,1474,2495,1994,710,251,1958,158,131,598,1518,1731,1294,822,403,2406,1315,1821,2023,1002,87,1069,2180,2444,1912,1452,852,1957,2012,1588,261,964,1245,1156,2208,708,192,484,1541,1484,365,1939,177,912,1204,732,229,2372,1349,2015,194,247,1962,1759,741,2284,2477,659,241,1875,934,1275,1126,1374,930,1879,425,1691,2030,2459,1262,854,46,2258,767,2482,327,114,1111,1593,1432,1932,568,2033,2456,908,1396,1968,532,309,1540,1824,1312,209,691,38,1406,1403,622,54,787,657,432,1969,531,1318,1491,2230,686,2450,1775,725,1124,2240,569,331,1433,167,562,1287,922,1782,718,438,1083,681,1528,2316,1909,692,37,1188,493,407,269,307,1137,1888,612,1413,2431,594,631,153,2248,456,273,511,18,607,993,771,2365,1479,546,975,874,495,405,1996,2229,372,1392,129,15,1921,1215,1701,2395,2366,1859,1390,1110,2490,1231,1794,1927,1673,1808,1441,159,370,926,1475,374,1562,2282,1814,995,2369,2392,1833,2011,2214,2410,1311,1938,2158,2067,237,439,402,2407,1949,1532,2068,236,2165,1435,165,2044,981,1723,2246,2243,1238,1571,2029,572,949,1967,337,1779,925,2324,1520,1505,2216,1148,373,1308,1293,823,266,695,601,1608,328,348,1956,1408,113,976,48,1473,1552,564,2037,2452,1517,599,130,1986,2239,2385,2376,433,1331,2269,35,1486,915,2221,1748,752,544,545,1304,2060,1421,23,461,983,106,2010,2479,1365,1551,1698,2271,2218,1878,1722,582,259,1341,868,1632,672,2137,264,1417,792,2233,1863,1386,2335,1265,1136,2345,571,5,1931,1790,1019,277,747,1278,322,207,154,2447,2314,1911,793,503,653,188,1837,764,1637,2207,394,762,199,1650,2071,2154,447,577,323,1198,566,523,921,375,2226,2398,1827,877,2487,217,1079,770,1934,1547,478,1203,646,1658,278,2222,379,21,2283,853,996,2140,1109,1492,1008,841,1760,1604,512,857,1952,2404,845,755,2270,1955,1070,2294,410,1271,2210,391,50,2159,442,714,310,590,1010,359,2,2114,1250,2350,1619,1745,1280,1321,888,408,1192,2289,415,954,271,1754,2090,119,1325,275,1661,20,605,839,2186,518,382,2219,1877,1259,1142,1358,1558,651,25,2475,2149,155,1870,66,1303,633,1576,2024,1697,67,2237,1988,1612,2484,2416,1553,751,2498,1598,803,286,2315,494,1810,2415,610,1599,517,59,85,356,2045,2311,90,586,1815,786,55,141,1975,1506,1630,219,357,1407,802,287,1157,364,660,240,2161,2463,1258,591,634,1130,1174,851,173,2228,581,1628,773,991,2373,1983,1617,1747,1853,451,1149,1987,929,160,864,1737,2359,1997,604,485,299,1817,1099,1502,347,1678,1803,1113,256,2244,1356,1560,1465,1451,70,2331,1513,791,730,111,1114,42,2262,1338,1366,843,1758,1963,1401,1735,1074,1135,1890,1831,2138,1226,890,1610,1199,1402,807,1693,71,713,1591,1218,2263,1706,143,1301,220,1716,784,816,705,319,1050,1654,947,2302,834,462,2139,997,27,117,367,2337,1144,152,332,2168,1928,2428,2061,2295,1305,999,157,1692,1117,1092,933,1276,1028,341,1423,1826,2143,1106,2494,6,1438,162,1687,522,1159,2322,1042,183,2418,946,654,2371,1854,1746,103,1578,538,1671,10,134,2170,39,250,191,1178,1631,578,1726,2370,1855,1866,1978,1622,2347,2142,883,1718,782,1819,1781,2188,621,1228,2136,673,1352,1249,1055,1649,115,1041,1075,1326,118,3,61,2055,649,720,724,1580,1784,2312,2177,127,1989,1036,1080,1420,884,412,2189,727,498,1711,1314,1935,1546,2175,2050,351,1018,1482,1999,210,1015,1289,1736,1400,1849,1872,1972,1053,468,901,2348,1252,429,796,1508,1973,2383,1586,2135,1961,1064,1240,281,344,1865,536,2489,992,377,464,625,51,1549,1367,1234,1902,1462,1563,1246,779,985,384,1825,879,1522,414,2290,959,805,716,509,647,1034,1567,549,1951,2018,1118,1907,1009,1295,821,404,1445,2399,1570,639,450,334,1035,1081,1223,298,2303,833,848,176,1345,1155,2326,810,1894,315,1449,667,629,596,80,2224,2265,1456,1680,1569,2400,849,2176,740,1196,920,524,205,819,781,1523,977,1424,1177,2187,1062,459,1566,550,179,1670,1139,305,1216,1284,2437,812,709,1995,1369,231,1533,492,2109,1027,909,2227,174,1762,1959,541,1763,262,1587,2134,366,1843,1182,1954,1646,1163,953,811,870,1834,1302,2419,1425,1384,1320,1929,880,1721,2123,86,643,33,31,1058,542,482,479,746,623,2293,308,92,584,712,1404,2317,387,574,326,1355,670,555,889,2247,253,2451,1393,632,1049,2200,1769,935,1466,1343,421,875,1334,1915,486,43,798,2338,63,1786,1463,1241,1360,576,385,2424,1801,1920,2049,760,465,904,1905,1459,222,1147,149,1076,293,2308,828,1573,452,2048,1201,563,593,83,317,644,1205,1004,1397,719,1217,808,2441,368,1841,968,1633,1848,1,120,76,285,1084,597,2107,1029,1572,1564,1685,1340,104,1660,2436,589,707,449,2152,2472,1884,1597,1652,1829,2396,2093,1876,60,669,2467,2022,1699,2145,1336,345,616,9,280,1656,2313,88,1761,1048,1868,836,2080,1764,1717,1419,1606,330,1519,506,938,2198,1166,1750,750,339,817,1032,2217,1383,1981,1268,757,2379,1846,458,698,527,994,855,1354,246,2355,561,1464,937,2199,1282,1119,2130,1006,1395,814,1686,2035,2454,2307,942,1362,238,662,1274,22,122,202,1319,1082,2054,2171,230,2474,1882,1143,301,723,1581,2019,1230,2251,1974,2382,427,302,1634,215,514,1511,1738,2106,198,243,2257,144,1792,324,765,135,121,1904,1121,248,193,831,850,671,170,1946,1898,806,1694,2402,98,386,1378,1647,1489,815,1889,1832,17,2099,1150,1059,2077,1892,917,1684,620,469,260,896,473,203,2006,1838,11,1145,151,1370,2351,898,1806,1003,1206,1098,58,2343,1626,490,1359,2485,1611,505,2096,1504,521,1783,618,1498,1418,2426,175,1346,2254,1842,658,2046,163,93,268,1176,1033,2103,1497,1867,69,12,2104,2121,480,1545,1704,1212,1924,477,1732,869,1940,2285,19,125,44,1556,560,2465,899,1601,335,565,731,1385,1979,2117,1247,689,911,178,398,2411,1310,290,1919,197,1739,1286,739,1862,842,1559,466,2238,1243,2357,244,1277,2323,2301,948,1077,2172,1672,353,223,2481,655,1194,1615,234,2367,1477,548,1052,2197,939,910,1899,2457,2443,2181,1068,1333,783,1426,2174,962,1154,446,515,1789,1347,769,1167,2433,376,108,292,797,499,2102,2387,14,2486,1235,1681,1344,1257,187,969,2056,1193,488,956,2069,2027,1337,1799,1450,314,2087,829,1980,1501,1635,1614,150,579,2125,1844,557,467,2449,687,682,218,1382,1322,2278,2483,2417,392,697,903,1213,1923,2173,228,2476,1005,595,2321,928,1281,2083,126,774,1930,1914,895,2021,1823,1202,1102,342,2362,663,2473,1371,745,699,2005,204,1645,1380,2220,1749,2095,1874,1490,110,790,2126,683,838,123,1173,1531,318,978,958,642,1662,2059,2166,2190,619,902,1499,1526,1283,742,483,2017,2339,1261,1655,1945,2280,529,840,2185,1659,645,84,1941,1780,245,2356,2133,892,1917,2052,2304,945,2191,1653,28,756,1744,1856,2500,749,2276,1568,1796,1013,1012,588,1813,212,1232,1577,2267,2089,2007,1714,311,914,47,34,1730,1186,2063,1906,2319,2305,1416,1609,507,789,2460,1021,743,1858,1742,1507,2462,2438,1918,291,2110,1734,2235,265,635,2390,1835,665,1936,2160,1561,1248,1777,824,1880,1964,2132,1589,2380,984,1225,711,189,2115,1485,36,1900,1016,748,1101,1708,1773,1948,861,1255,1770,534,2491,873,1063,381,580,2445,471,1129,1272,2209,1887,417,424,1097,128,16,2009,2480,224,401,1363,1038,1666,2430,2470,1886,715,1785,519,637,2499,1470,211,1725,300,184,216,73,288,2212,813,1891,1134,982,867,733,2076,1060,1440,1264,257,227,998,766,258,2242,674,1535,2309,940,1869,1852,648,721,960,640,2169,1431,685,611,1990,510,2299,1926,283,678,1822,882,2034,1447,1469,2131,573,388,2421,1548,2296,1800,49,735,289,72,1153,1448,1916,109,1740,1860,1056,2425,1296,1105,1811,893,196,380,2120,1976,1388,916,453,703,1061,1643,2201,1768,1481,2000,1600,2496,313,1131,390,1291,2073,1896,1468,2013,1123,1478,2003,497,728,1208,1496,1529,775,186,1335,346,615,2194,1170,1966,1755,1845,859,1641,2328,1897,1128,988,2493,1476,1125,475,614,1067,533,2492,2408,1073,776,1625,1184,2297,2327,2162,1087,2394,1702,1107,2374,2250,559,666,778,986,2150,1214,1922,1327,1377,1539,1165,1436,965,1151,2098,2127,1594,906,1030,491,350,2051,1793,1688,2281,2075,1525,239,722,1394,1970,2386,1583,1442,2279,970,1530,679,617,112,2388,1093,1211,2038,1443,2401,1695,1554,1582,182,974,1427,1937,1088,208,81,2320,2036,1100,1925,676,1260,504,1096,200,124,1557,943,2193,1651,2070,1179,502,1434,1375,2346,255,145,1224,1585,624,400,1809,2287,213,316,980,1621,2100,1381,923,233,2368,1353,168,1596,1429,1707,694,675,846,754,1550,214,1467,297,2203,2286,1078,147,78,1771,1254,955,894,1222,378,463,2241,360,540,1669,267,1942,362,263,2041,2184,1180,1524,501,460,1140,1461,1788,516,2085,1515,1510,990,2259,1710,406,2298,1798,138,487,2429,1415,2306,2318,1046,1454,146,2354,1871,1729,296,860,1444,2156,445,180,181,395,2206,195,1741,1623,1977,1992,2497,419,422,2078,626,818,1991,1373,652,2157,759,1266,2334,2427,1054,627,2182,1299,2422,282,1399,2082,2274,226,863,161,8,2393,971,1733,1292,4,1221,75,1950,966,1534,2435,481,608,761,2155,2469,1627,2094,2002,702,454,1146,79,2225,1256,2108,1141,2223,913,1112,1913,688,1713,1536,768,132,1389,2332,804,1405,2439,1657,944,820,2205,1044,1765,444,340,684,2020,1116,40,156,2148,556,2360,140,1085,1316,800,2336,2288,961,1743,1857,847,753,543,2058,1191,1410,190,539,2062,1538,1943,866,430,1595,169,2232,2124,1357,1244,1565,284,872,2264,440,1676,1133,1171,2310,1411,1190,254,530,431,2273,2488,2001,303,1066,1638,862,99,1270,2211,2014,1122,2478,1618,1982,827,1774,1947,2409,1816,1665,1039,2442,1527,777,592,249,1960,641,1040,1361,1555,2414,1682,82,1007,1802,2042,1679,1457,1043,1873,936,1368,2353,1011,1014,2122,1242,967,2397,1324,885,1051,1158,1342,1683,1233,1903,801,2448,1908,693,1807,1329,352,1584,1120,1689,1227,1273,171,1350,1675,1574,2147,989,2260,1709,1772,77,2039,1805,1795,321,1279,1025,1376,2105,1864,2361,2128,788,508,1893,1828,2016,585,2440,1160,1756,1493,443,2261,1460,304,785,2464,900,325,636,1668,2053,1791,1690,1910,1339,1797,2047,2178,423,1881,2215,701,668,1933,276,2028,472,312,1288,1521,979,1830,1086,139,437,2164,2192,409,887,1514,2086,2403,97,2112,1024,2340,1885,2471,2153,2072,1409,1616,500,656,1648,116,2384,1712,1313,1391,2453,148,876,1624,680,1169,56,905,2231,794,2455,354,1090,1719,45,279,397,2412,613,2091,825,856,744,552,1752,952,729,1480,1020,2116,1605,1644,2325,2031,570,799,1602,2119,690,606,763,758,1091,65,835,1766,734,1667,1037,52,2064,2032,272,1664,185,1751,274,951,1965,436,1328,881,2255,2101,603,1422,1603,333,1971,630,1579,270,1330,2151,2074,1290,826,470,2234,1487,2113,1023,2341,2420,2204,932,832,537,1767,2202,399,897,2352,2272,329,1607,1309,1500,2344,57,232,924,520,1161,2088,2268,1453,2391,525,844,600,1164,772,2253,2236,1364,1237,2363,137,704,320,2081,1168,1332,972,2277,1323,441,1495,809,1895,221,1804,2292,957,2179,737,1379,2342,907,2118,1851,1398,2446,363,726,235,1446,2275,225,136,89,107,1414,987,2377,1104,1297,1728,1993,1488,628,396,133,1236,700,1901,1820,2405,95,389,1727,1189,411,489,736,1200,1300,1836,973,2163,2461,455,29,871,1629,1620,2349,355,1494,1210,1094,1715,2129,1592,2252,664,1017,1483,1542,1162,1239,361,2040,1209,1095,349,1251,513,1696,1220,2144,457,1307,62,338,1183,1317,1387,2213,1883,53,1172,677,1439,242,1127,554,1471,738,706,1998,918,931,30,294,1306,1503,2097,1267,102,94,435,2065,2291,1430,91,2025,891,553,1472,2249,1351,1674,1575,1026,343,2466,2434,1047,717,2092,2004,1132,1269,100,96,1348,1677,2167,1197,567,2458,1263,418,878,886,558,2358,2266,1703,413,371,2333,1636,1613,68,13,2196,1285,2079,2146,1103,2378,1847,1753,551,1298,638,587,142,1458,306,919,602,74,950,206,2195,830,1195,1509,795,105,336,393,1207,1818,583,201,2008,696,1705,1776,528,496,1185,1840,2256,1108,2141,2084,1516,420,2389,1455,1045,476,1640,2329,2432,1412,1724,1757,547,609,1072,1428,172,24,1065,1639,2330,2026,575,650,1031,1778,526,1590,1219,2381,428,661,1839,1642,474,426,358,2043,166,858,1543,2057,1787,1022,1187,2413,1812} 
Posted 4 years ago
 I asked the same question 2 years ago :) http://community.wolfram.com/groups/-/m/t/523917
Posted 4 years ago
 I didn't see that topic! Very similar code! Thanks for sharing.
Posted 4 years ago
 Does anyone have any ideas on how I would go about mathematically proving that it works for n>24?
Posted 4 years ago
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Posted 4 years ago
 Huh. I just noticed that the sums for n = 16 have a funny pattern... The solution for this is {16, 9, 7, 2, 14, 11, 5, 4, 12, 13, 3, 6, 10, 15, 1, 8}; however, if we take the sequence of "in-between" square sums, we have:{25, 16, 9, 16, 25, 16, 9, 16, 25, 16, 9, 16, 25, 16, 9}I'm sure that this is just coincidence.Otto Felix: As of the moment, I am unsure of how to solve this problem. Hopefully some smart maths students can see this thread. Until then, I'll see if I can find anything else interesting about the problem...Also, I am interested if there are any examples of multiple solutions for the square-sum sequences for the nth case. For anyone computing out there, this may be interesting to pursue...