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One way to remember the multiplication table of the octonions is to use the following diagram (which I got from John Baez's online paper): if $(e_i,e_j,e_k)$ is one of the lines listed according to the cyclic order indicated in the diagram, then $e_ie_j=e_k$ and $e_je_i=-e_k$ in $\mathbb O$.

If we forget the cyclic orientation of the lines, this is of course a well-known depiction of the Fano plane $P^2(\mathbb F_2)$, which is an example of many different structures: it is a Steiner triple system, a quasigroup, &c.

What kind of object is this oriented Fano plane?

NB1: Naive googling informs of the concept of Mendelsohn triple systems and of transitive triple systems, both of which are enrichments of the notion of Steiner triple systems with orderings on the blocks. The oriented Fano plane above is not an example of these concepts, though.

NB2: One way to reconstruct the orientation is as follows: it is (up to projective linear automorphisms) the unique way to cyclically orient the lines in the plane in such a way that for each point $x$, the set of three points which follow $x$ in the three lines that go through it is itself a line. In fact, it is the only Steiner triple system which can be oriented with this property.

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One way to remember the multiplication table of the octonions is to use the following diagram (which I got from John Baez's online paper): if $(e_i,e_j,e_k)$ is one of the lines listed according to the cyclic order indicated in the diagram, then $e_ie_j=e_k$ and $e_je_i=-e_k$ in $\mathbb O$.

If we forget the cyclic orientation of the lines, this is of course a well-known depiction of the Fano plane $P^2(\mathbb F_2)$, which is an example of many different structures: it is a Steiner triple system, a quasigroup, &c.

What kind of object is this oriented Fano plane?

NB

NB1: Naive googling informs of the concept of Mendelsohn triple systems and of transitive triple systems, both of which are enrichments of the notion of Steiner triple systems with orderings on the blocks. The oriented Fano plane above is not an example of these concepts, though.

NB2: One way to reconstruct the orientation is as follows: it is (up to projective linear automorphisms) the unique way to cyclically orient the lines in the plane in such a way that for each point $x$, the set of three points which follow $x$ in the three lines that go through it is itself a line.

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One way to remember the multiplication table of the octonions is to use the following diagram (which I got from John Baez's online paper): if $(e_i,e_j,e_k)$ is one of the lines listed according to the cyclic order indicated in the diagram, then $e_ie_j=e_k$ and $e_je_i=-e_k$ in $\mathbb O$.

If we forget the cyclic orientation of the lines, this is of course a well-known depiction of the Fano plane $P^2(\mathbb F_2)$, which is an example of many different structures: it is a Steiner triple system, a quasigroup, &c.

What kind of object is this oriented Fano plane?

NB: Naive googling informs of the concept of Mendelsohn triple systems and of transitive triple systems, both of which are enrichments of the notion of Steiner triple systems with orderings of on the blocks. The above oriented Fano plane above is not an example of these concepts, though.

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