Peter sent us this solution, using the
starting point we gave:
There are 6 vertices and 5 edges. Let's suppose
the magic constant is
and this is the same at
each vertex. The total of all the numbers 1 + 2
+ ... + 11 = 66 but the numbers on the edges,
are counted twice. So, adding the magic sum at all six vertices:
So
is a multiple of 6 and it is at
least
so it must be 18 or more.
Hence
and
.
We're going to call the horizontal edge
, the front two edges
and
,
and the back two legs
and
. Also, we see that the numbers 11, 10 and 9
must all be in feet, as they're too big to be anywhere else.
Let's try
first. We may as well take
, as the legs are all
interchangeable at this stage.
Now if
, then we have
(as the back legs are interchangeable). Also,
we must have
and the back foot as 6 and 8(in some order), and we soon see
that this isn't possible (as we'd also need
plus the top left hip to add up
to 7). If
isn't 4, then we can assume that
. But similarly we find
that we can't have
or
or
. So
isn't 14.
Let's try
. But then we need four pairs of numbers that sum to 16
(one for each leg). We try: (11,5), (10,6), (9,7), (8,?)and we
can't repeat the 8 so that isn't possible.
So let's try
. This time, we may as well take
. There are only
4 pairs that add up to 15: (11,4), (10,5), (9,6) and (8,7). Call the number in
the top left hip
.
If
, then we have
and
, which isn't possible (as we don't have
the right numbers left).
So we can take
. If
, have
and then we'll need
, and
this isn't possible. If
, have
and we also have
and this
isn't possible either. Also we can't have
, as this is too big. So the
only possibility is the one shown below (and this does indeed work).
(When I say the only possibility, of course the front legs could be switched,
or the back legs, or the front and back swapped, but it's really the same
caterpillar.)