A rank characterization of linear models with nuisance parameters and its application to block designs (Q1118954)

A criterion is given for a block design to have the property that its \(v\times b\) incidence matrix is of rank v-d. In the particular case of \(d=0\), this property is called Fisher's condition, for it obviously implies Fisher's inequality \(v\leq b\). The results concerning block designs are derived from more general ones, pertaining to any linear model with nuisance parameters and to Fisher's condition extended correspondingly.