In combinatorics and in experimental design, a Latin square is an n × n array filled with n different symbols, each occurring exactly once in each row and exactly once in each column. Here is an example:
| A | B | C |
| C | A | B |
| B | C | A |
The name "Latin square" was inspired by mathematical papers by Leonhard Euler, who used Latin characters as symbols. Of course, other symbols can be used instead of Latin letters: in the above example, the alphabetic sequence A, B, C can be replaced by the integer sequence 1, 2, 3.
Read more about Latin Square: Reduced Form, Applications, Heraldry
Famous quotes containing the words latin and/or square:
“But these young scholars, who invade our hills,
Bold as the engineer who fells the wood,
And travelling often in the cut he makes,
Love not the flower they pluck, and know it not
And all their botany is Latin names.
The old men studied magic in the flowers.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Interpreting the dance: young women in white dancing in a ring can only be virgins; old women in black dancing in a ring can only be witches; but middle-aged women in colors, square dancing...?”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)