A brief survey of perfect Mendelsohn packing and covering designs (Q1302146)

A \((v,k,\lambda)\)-perfect Mendelsohn packing (covering) design is a collection of cyclically ordered \(k\)-subsets of a \(v\)-set (called blocks) such that every ordered pair of elements appears \(t\)-apart in at most (at least) \(\lambda\) blocks for all \(t= 1,\dots, k-1\). The packing (covering) problem is to determine the number \(P(v,k,\lambda)\) (\(C(v,k,\lambda)\)), the maximum (minimum) number of blocks in a Mendelsohn packing (covering) design, for all \(v\geq k\). This paper surveys the known results for \(k= 3,4\), and 5. Incomplete perfect Mendelsohn designs are the primary tools used. Open problems are stated for the case \(k=5\).