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Graeco-Latin Squares and a Mistaken Conjecture of Euler.
- Source :
-
College Mathematics Journal . Jan2006, Vol. 37 Issue 1, p2-15. 14p. - Publication Year :
- 2006
-
Abstract
- The article presents information on the properties of Graeco-Latin squares enumerated by mathematician Leonhard Euler. Euler suggested that a Graeco-Latin square of size n could never exist for any n of the form 4k +2, although he was not able to prove it. A Latin square is an n-by-n array of n distinct symbols in which each symbol appears exactly once in each row and column. On the other hand a Graeco-Latin square is an n-by-n array of ordered pairs from a set of n symbols such that in each row and each column of the array, each symbol appears exactly once in each coordinate. In one of his papers on Graeco-Latin squares, Euler used magic squares, which are closely related to Graeco-Latin squares. Magic squares were constructed by using Graeco-Latin squares of orders 3, 4 and 5. He showed that a Graeco-Latin square of order n can be converted into a magic square by the use of an algorithm. One can construct Graeco-Latin squares of every order n except those values for which the prime factorization of n contains only a single factor of 2.
Details
- Language :
- Turkish
- ISSN :
- 07468342
- Volume :
- 37
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- College Mathematics Journal
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 20036951
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/07468342.2006.11922160