Complete Diagonals of Latin Squares

Abstract

AbstractJ. Marica and J. Schönhein [4], using a theorem of M. Hall, Jr. [3], see below, proved that if any n − 1 arbitrarily chosen elements of the diagonal of an n × n array are prescribed, it is possible to complete the array to form an n × n latin square. This result answers affirmatively a special case of a conjecture of T. Evans [2], to the effect that an n × n incomplete latin square with at most n − 1 places occupied can be completed to an n × n latin square. When the complete diagonal is prescribed, it is easy to see that a counterexample is provided by the case that one letter appears n − 1 times on the diagonal and a second letter appears once. In the present paper, we prove that except in this case the completion to a full latin square is always possible. Completion to a symmetric latin square is also discussed.