Because algorithm is part of the title, I believe just the opposite.
I know that the first rule of life is never argue with an idiot as they just bring you down to their level and beat you with their experience... but.
look at the press release that you linked to.
toshibas news desk said:
With the Toshiba "magic square algorithm", an RGB666 18-bit LCD panel can produce a display equivalent to that of an RGB888 24-bit LCD panel with up to 16-million colors. In addition, the algorithm enables display of 8-bit gray scale images even if the LCD panel only has a 6-bit gray scale capacity. The chip has independent 8-bit lookup table format gamma correction circuits for each color. The lookup table format converts 8-bit input into 8-bit output. This function permits fine adjustments to the brightness, even in LCD panels with a limited range of tones.
so lets look at the facts here.
There is no known algorithm for generating magic squares.
the only algorithms that can be used are genetic algorithms (which are a successive approximation tool)
Toshiba didn't create an algorithm to generate magic squares.
they created an algorithm that uses lookup tables to enable a greater resolution to be displayed from a lesser signal and hence reduce the bandwidth needed for signal transmission.
(also enables still scenes in film to require almost zero bandwidth, which is very impressive, as at the moment, still scenes in video transmission would still be assumed to be changing.)
impressive yes, but using magic square number games no.
It would take further research to clarify.
errr, no it wouldn't all the information needed is in the press release, just because you googled two words together and found a press release it doesn't mean it's a fact, had you read and
understood that press release then you wouldn't think it needs more research.
In the meantime I want to cover another aspect to the usefulness of concepts because something that seems to be a mere curiosity can lead to something of great importance.
For people who are really into mathematics, there is the story of the Konisberg bridges puzzle which for many years was a source of curiosity and recreation.
I thought we were talking about Magic squares, not bridge puzzles...
should I just believe that you can't actually find a use for magic squares either?? hence this constant changing the subject? now to bridge puzzles... which again have no use past playing games.
you appear to have a fundamental misunderstanding of how peoples brains work...
as I said earlier, the more you use your brain the better it gets, the more you tax your brain, to harder you push it, the more you make it work, the better it gets, or in the case of old age, the less worse it gets.
in this respect the brain is much like any other muscle in your body.
IF you play with number games, then you will get better at them. your brain will be improved, to that extent, playing with any number game, magic squares, bridge puzzles, practising long multiplication in your head, large number addition or subtraction even anything that may tax your brain or cause you to think is useful to developing your brain.
at the end of the day though, something being useful as a mental exercise, and something being useful as a mathematical tool/formula/process/method/theory etc is very different.
but at the moment, magic squares don't have a practical purpose at all. and I can't see them getting a practical purpose, since the squares are not uniform enough to be able to be generated, then how are they going to find a use in the rather formulaic and strict world of mathematics?
no, I'm not denying that magic squares may be useful (meaning have a real practical purpose at some point in the future), but then can only ever be used as lookup tables, since there is no formula to create them, people have used lookup tables for years (though this was before calculators, when you couldn't just find the natural log of a number, you had to find it on your reference chart).
bridge puzzles are frankly ridiculous, and again have no practical purpose. (past mental exercise).
basically, magic squares only have purpose as a mental exercise, which makes them about as useful as a game of hangman.
In this area, my own belief is that all areas of mathematics, no matter how trivial they seem, have potential importance and not just something to play around with.
You mean every curiosity of maths is important because it might make you think?
as I said above you missed the point, the people that you mention didn't go on to be great because they played magic square games, they went on to be great because they exercised their brains.
the simple fact is that had there never even been a magic square game then they would have still exercised their brains, just with a different game, and would have still been great people.
Would you care to try to solve the puzzle I put up?
it's been solved! everything about it has been solved. right down to the eigenvalues/vectors... in fact we only moved onto eigenvalues and vectors because your math problem, had been solved.
if you've got a different puzzle you need solving, or the solutions that were given aren't good enough, or you missed them, then say what you're missing?