Indivisible plexes in latin squares

Darryn Edward Bryant, Judith Ann Egan, Barbara Marguerite Maenhaut, Ian Murray Wanless

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A k-plex is a selection of kn entries of a latin square of order n in which each row, column and symbol is represented precisely k times. A transversal of a latin square corresponds to the case k = 1. A k-plex is said to be indivisible if it contains no c-plex for any 0 <c <k. We prove that if n = 2km for integers k >= 2 and m >= 1 then there exists a latin square of order n composed of 2m disjoint indivisible k-plexes. Also, for positive integers k and n satisfying n = 3k, n = 4k or n >= 5k, we construct a latin square of order n containing an indivisible k-plex.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)93 - 105
Number of pages13
JournalDesigns Codes and Cryptography
Volume52
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 2009

Cite this