There's an obvious O(N^6) brute force algorithm.
For each combination of upper left and lower right corners { // O(N^4)
Calculate the sum; // O(N^2)
If the new sum is greater than old maximum, remember it.
}
A question very similar to this in one dimension has
an O(N) solution. That makes me think there must be an O(N^2) one for this.
[ October 15, 2007: Message edited by: Ryan McGuire ]