Item 3 - The problem of the Graeco-Latin Square

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MacMahon/B/3

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GB 275 MacMahon/B/3

Title

The problem of the Graeco-Latin Square

Date(s)

  • 1902 (circa.) (Creation)

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14p paper

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(1844-1916)

Biographical history

Watson was commissioned lietenant of the Royal Engineers in 1866, having studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and trained at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He served under General Gordon in the Sudan, 1874-1875, where he was involved in surveying work. Deputy-Inspector-General of Fortifications, 1896-1902. Became a member of the Royal Geographical Society in 1875. After his retirement from the military, Watson acted as British Government Delegate to International Navigation Congresses, 1902-1908. Became Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1905.

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Material relating to MacMahon's work in the branch of combinatorics, and especially concerning a particular case of the problem of the Graeco-Latin Square. Includes two typescript newspaper cuttings from the 'Morning Post', which describe the case, outlined by MacMahon in a recent lecture on 'Magic Squares'[Royal Inst., vol.17 (Feb. 1902)], as follows: there are thirty-six officers of six different ranks and drawn from six different regiments, and it is required to arrange them in a square of thirty-six compartments, so that in each row, as well as in each column, there appears an officer of each rank, and also an officer of each regiment. The 'thirty-six officers problem' was proposed by the mathematician, Leonhard Euler (1707-1783) in 1782. Euler conjectured that there was no solution to this problem, but the writer is optimistic that one may be found in the future. Also includes manuscript mathematical notes by Charles Watson, dated April - May 1902.

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