Partial geometric lattices. I: Regularity conditions (Q1100207): Difference between revisions

This paper introduces partial geometric lattices, which generalize to arbitrary rank, partial geometries studied by Bose, which are partial geometries of rank 3, and the partial geometries of dimension 3 studied by Laskar and Dunbar, which are a subclass of the partial geometric lattices of rank 4. The main result is that the number of spaces of a given rank \(i+k\) which contain a given i-space and are contained in a given \((i+s)\)-space depends only on the ranks \(i,i+k\) and \(i+s\). This function is called \(\phi\) (i,s,k). It, along with related functions, is calculated for rank 3 and 4. These combinatorial structures should prove useful in the study of hierarchical experimental designs both factorial and non-factorial, and in coding theory and combinatorial information theory.