Skip to main content
Source Link
Timothy Chow
  • 82.7k
  • 26
  • 363
  • 587

The Alon–Tarsi conjecture says that if $n$ is even, then the number of even Latin squares is different from the number of odd Latin squares (where the parity of a Latin square can be defined as the product of the parities of its rows and columns, considered as permutations). It is known in special cases, in particular when $n = p\pm 1$, but is open in general. The proof techniques for $n=p\pm 1$ make use of special properties of primes. For example, Drisko's proof of the case $n=p+1$ uses the Sylow theorems; in the Sylow theorems, you cannot simply replace the prime $p$ with an arbitrary integer.

Post Made Community Wiki by Timothy Chow