This summer, I’ve been “competing” in the Big Internet Math Off 2019. It’s a competition where 16 math-y people share their favorite or interesting bits of mathematics, and each day people vote. Believe it or not, I made it to the final two competitors — and today is THE FINALS.

If you’d like to read my post and my competitor’s post and vote, I’d appreciate it:

The Big Internet Math-Off: The final – Sameer Shah vs Sophie Carr

It will only take a short time (no need to login or anything to vote, the only time it will really take is the reading).

My mathematical tidbit today attempts to have you look at these two squares, a 17×17 colorful square and a 127×127 greyscale square.

Both are… slightly uninteresting.

My goal, through the post, is to show you that both of these squares are insanely interesting. I call them the most beautiful 17×17 and 127×127 squares ever. And my conclusion: once you learn about the mathematics embedded in these squares, you’ll never look at them the same way again. You can’t.

It’s like having a huge a-ha moment when learning something. It completely transforms the way you look at something, so you can’t see it in its original form again.

I hope you enjoy!

If you want to see my five entries into the Big Internet Math Off 2019:

Entry 1: a counfounding conundrum: https://aperiodical.com/2019/07/the-big-internet-math-off-2019-group-2-jorge-nuno-silva-vs-sameer-shah/

Entry 2: a card trick: https://aperiodical.com/2019/07/the-big-internet-math-off-2019-group-2-vincent-pantaloni-vs-sameer-shah/

Entry 3: a magical property of circles: https://aperiodical.com/2019/07/the-big-internet-math-off-2019-group-1-marianne-and-rachel-vs-sameer-shah/

Entry 4: an unexpected break in a mathematical pattern: https://aperiodical.com/2019/07/the-big-internet-math-off-2019-semi-final-1-lucy-rycroft-smith-vs-sameer-shah/

Entry 5 (the one outlined in this post): two beautiful squares: https://aperiodical.com/2019/07/the-big-internet-math-off-the-final-sameer-shah-vs-sophie-carr/