On Mendelsohn and directed triple systems with repeated elements allowed in triples (Q1062064)

A cyclic triple or Mendelsohn triple (a,b,c) contains the ordered pairs (a,b,c) contains the ordered pairs (a,b), (b,c) and (c,a), while the directed (or transitive) triple (a,b,c) contains the ordered pairs (a,b,), (a,c) and (b,c,). In this paper a,b,c do not have to be distinct. The author shows such systems exist if and only if the number of elements in the underlying set is \(\equiv 0(mod 3)\). Also she shows, every balanced ternary design with suitable parameters may have its triples directed to form a directed (transitive) triple system with repeats. It is also shown that, provided the underlying set is of size at least nine, there exists a balanced ternary design on this set with block size three, the triples of which cannot be oriented to form a Mendelsohn triple system with repeats.