A generalization of plexes of Latin squares (Q533756)

A collection \(C\) of \(kn\) cells in a Latin square \(L\) of order \(n\) is called a \(k\)-plex if each row, each column, and each symbol occurs in \(C\) exactly \(k \) times. For \(k=1,\) the \(1\)-plex is called a transversal. There are many conjectures and open questions on transversals; e.g., a long-standing conjecture of Ryser claims that each Latin square of an odd order has a transversal. Some results and conjectures on transversals extend to \(k\)-plexes. In this paper, a \(k\)-weight, a generalization of \(k\)-plex is introduced as an integer function \(f\) on cells of \(L\) such that the sum of values of \(f\) over each row, each column, and each symbol in \(L\) equals \(k.\) The author shows that the weight analogues of some conjectures on \(k\)-plexes hold for \(k \)-weights.