Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Approximate Transversals Of Latin Squares, Jon Kyle Pula

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A latin square of order n is an n by n array whose entries are drawn from an n-set of symbols such that each symbol appears precisely once in each row and column. A transversal of a latin square is a subset of cells that meets each row, column, and symbol precisely once.

There are many open and difficult questions about the existence and prevalence of transversals. We undertake a systematic study of collections of cells that exhibit regularity properties similar to those of transversals and prove numerous theorems about their existence and structure. We hope that our results …