[Math] How to construct two 4 by 4 orthogonal Latin Squares

latin-square

I am constructing two, 4 by 4, orthogonal Latin Squares from the alphabet {$a,b,c,d$}. I have already created one Latin Square. Is there a method for constructing the other Latin Square or is it just trial and error?

Best Answer

How comfortable are you with finite field arithmetic? For latin squares of size a prime power $q$ there is a very nice construction for producing $q-1$ mutually orthogonal latin squares. Here it is for $q = 4$:

First identify the $4 \times 4$ grids with $\mathbb{F}_4^2$ in the obvious way. For each nonzero element $a$ of $\mathbb{F}_4$ we construct a latin square by labeling the points of $\mathbb{F}_4^2$ as follows: For a point $p \in \mathbb{F}_4^2$ take the line through $p$ of slope $a$ and label $p$ by where this line intersects the $x$-axis.

Since two points in $\mathbb{F}_4^2$ define a unique line it follows that these are mutually orthogonal latin squares.

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