On the completability of mutually orthogonal Latin rectangles

This thesis examines the completability of an incomplete set of m-row orthogonal Latin rectangles (MOLRm) from a set theoretical viewpoint. We focus on the case of two rows, i.e. MOLR2, and define its independence system (IS) and the associated clutter of bases, which is the collection of all MOLR2. Any such clutter gives rise to a unique clutter of circuits which is the collection of all minimal dependent sets. To decide whether an incomplete set of MOLR2 is completable, it suffices to show that it does not contain a circuit therefore full knowledge of the clutter of circuits is needed. For the IS associated with 2-row orthogonal Latin rectangles (OLR2) we establish a methodology based on the notion of an availability matrix to fully characterise the corresponding clutter of circuits. We prove that...