Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-probability-statistics-and-options-ii-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2009/r/r2/v/solution
Past exam of the Probability, statistics and options II course of the University of Oxford 2009 R R2 v Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
For an rectangle, let be the symbols absent from column . Each has size . Across all columns, each symbol is absent exactly times, because it appears once in each existing row. For any set of columns, count incidences between those columns and their missing symbols. There are incidences, while each distinct symbol in the union contributes at most . Therefore .
Hall's theorem supplies distinct representatives, one per column, forming an additional row with all symbols. This extends the rectangle without any column repetition. Repeat with rows, then successively until there are rows. Hence every finite latin rectangle extends to a Latin square by adding the required rows.
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