For the base squares, there is only one essentially different 3rd order square, while there 880 essentially different 4th-order squares that we can choose from. Each pairing can produce two different composite squares. Since each magic sub-squares in each composite square can be expressed in 8 different forms due to rotations and reflections, there can be 1×880×89 + 880×1×816 ≈ 2.476×1017 essentially different 12×12 composite magic squares created this way, with consecutive numbers in each sub-square. In general, if there are "c"m and "c"n essentially different magic squares of order "m" and "n", then we can form "c"m × "c"n × ( 8"m"2 + 8"n"2) composite squares of order "mn", provided "m" ≠ "n". If "m" = "n", then we can form ("c"m)2 × 8"m"2 composite squares of order "m"2.