The completion determination of optimal \((3,4)\)-packings (Q499668)

A \((3,4)\)-packing consists on an \(n\)-element set \(X\) and a collection of 4-element subsets of \(X\), called blocks, such that every 3-element subset of \(X\) is contained in at most one block. The packing number of quadruples \(d(3,4,n)\) denotes the number of blocks in a maximum \((3,4)\)-packing. The packing number is also the maximum number \(A(n,4,4)\) of codewords in a code of length \(n\), constant weight 4, and minimum Hamming distance 4. In this paper, the authors use direct constructions to show that the remaining undecided 21 packing numbers \(A(n,4,4)\) are equal to the Johnson bound \(J(n,4,4)= \lfloor \frac{n}{4} \lfloor \frac{n-1}{3} \lfloor \frac{n-2}{2} \rfloor \rfloor \rfloor\).