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13 votes
2 answers
1k views

Number of commuting pairs (triples, n-tuples) in GL_n(F_q) (and other groups)?

Question 1 What is the number of pairs of commuting elements in GL_n(F_q) ? I am aware of many results concerning commuting elements in Mat_n(F_q), but I am interested in GL i.e. non-degenerate ...
11 votes
2 answers
604 views

Does $q$-Catalan number count subspaces?

Consider the $n$-element subsets $\{a_1<a_2<\cdots <a_n\}$ of $\{1,\ldots ,2n\}$ satisfying $a_i\geq 2i$ for all $i=1,\ldots ,n$. The number of such subsets is given by $${2n\choose n}-{2n\...
9 votes
1 answer
543 views

On the number of polynomials that divide $x^{q-1}-1$ in some subspaces of $\mathbb F_q[x]$

Let $\mathbb F_q$ be a finite field (where $q$ is in general a power of a prime), and let $e, k$ be positive integers with $k \leq e < q-1$. Let $f_0(x), \ldots, f_k(x) \in \mathbb F_q[x]$ be ...
1 vote
1 answer
82 views

question about sets of polynomials with a special agreement guarantee

Let $\mathbb{F}$ be a finite field and $S\subset\mathbb{F}_{\leq d}[x,y]$, a set of bivariate polynomials over $\mathbb{F}$ of degree at most $d\ll|\mathbb{F}|$. Assume the linear span of $S$ is all ...
4 votes
1 answer
271 views

Square-free sets in $\mathbb F_2^n\oplus\mathbb F_2^n$

A square in $\mathbb F_2^n\oplus\mathbb F_2^n$ is a quadruple of the form $$ (u,v)+\{(0,0),(0,d),(d,0),(d,d)\},\quad u,v,d\in\mathbb F_2^n,\ d\ne 0. $$ A set $A\subset\mathbb F_2^n\oplus\mathbb F_2^...
3 votes
3 answers
611 views

On MDS code property

Is there a code that is Maximum Distance Separable and not isomorphic to Reed Solomon Codes? When is a MDS code isomorphic to Reed Solomon Code? Is there an easy test? If so, could someone provide ...
3 votes
0 answers
73 views

Number of classes $\pmod p$ represented by $b_1s^{n-1} + \dots + b_n$ where $ord_p(s) = n$

Let $n \in \mathbb Z$ with $n \ge 3$ and let $p$ be a prime number such that $n|p-1$. Let $a_1,a_2,\dots,a_{2n-1} \in \mathbb Z/p\mathbb Z$. Suppose that the same class is represented by at most $n-1$ ...
67 votes
6 answers
7k views

How to recognise that the polynomial method might work

A couple of days ago I was at a nice seminar given by Christian Reiher, during which he told us about a short proof of the following special case of a theorem of Olson. Theorem. Let $(a_1,b_1),\dots,(...
3 votes
0 answers
230 views

On weight enumerators of codes

Are there $[n,k]_q$ constant rate $\frac kn$ and constant alphabet linear code families with automorphism group of size $\Omega((n-n^\beta)!)$ that have minimum distance $d=O(n^\alpha)$ and number of ...
6 votes
1 answer
457 views

Vector with many non-zero coordinates

Given finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$, positive integers $n$ and $k<n$. Given $k$-dimensional subspace $X$ of $\mathbb{F}_q^n$, for which $m=m(q,k,n)$ may we find for sure a vector in $X$ with at least ...
4 votes
2 answers
2k views

probability of having linearly independent sparse vectors over finite fields

Suppose that there are $i< N$ linearly independent $N$-dimensional vectors $\mathbf{v}_1,\mathbf{v}_2,\ldots,\mathbf{v}_i$ over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$, whose elements are denoted as $\{0,1,2,...
2 votes
1 answer
128 views

Bases of the special form

Let $R = \mathrm{GF}(q)$, $S = \mathrm{GF}(q^n), \ n\geq 2$ be extension of $R$, $h$ be a primitive element of $S$. I want to count or estimate the number $N$ of bases of the following form. Let $$\...
5 votes
1 answer
459 views

$(n-2)$-blocking sets in $AG(n,2)$

Let's define $k$-blocking set in affine space $AG(n,q)$ a set that meets every coset (translate of subspace) of dimension $k$. I have seen a lot work related to minimal $(n-1)$-blockings set. ...
11 votes
2 answers
788 views

Blocking sets in three dimensional finite affine spaces

What is the smallest possible size of a set of points in $\mathbb{F}_q^3$ which intersects (blocks) every line? Clearly the union of three affine hyperplanes that intersect in a singleton, say $x = 0,...
5 votes
0 answers
205 views

Polynomials representing locally constant functions

Let $K$ be a finite field with $p$ elements. (a) Let $f\in K\lbrack x\rbrack$ be such that (i) $\deg(f)<p$ and (ii) $f(2x) = f(x)$ for $\geq (1-\epsilon) p$ values of $x$ in $K$. What can we say ...
4 votes
1 answer
491 views

What is the permutation group generated by those three given morphisms of the affine space $\mathbb{F}_q^3$?

Let $\mathbb{A}^3 = \mathbb{F}_q^3$. Consider the following three functions $\mathbb{A}^3\to\mathbb{A}^3$: \begin{eqnarray*} h: (x, y, z) &\mapsto& (x, y, xy - z) \\ u: (x, y, z) &\mapsto&...
4 votes
1 answer
152 views

Enumerator Polynomials for Linear Anytime Codes

Let $C = \{c \in \mathbb{F}^n_2 : Hc=0\}$ be a binary linear code where $H \in \mathbb{F}^{k \times n}_2$ is a block lower-triangular matrix of full rank called the parity-check matrix of $C$. Clearly ...
4 votes
1 answer
463 views

Covering all, but $k$ points with affine subspaces

For non-negative integer $d\le n$ and $k\le 2^n$, how many affine subspaces of co-dimension $d$ are needed to cover all, but exactly $k$ elements of the vector space ${\mathbb F}_2^n$, and what are ...
3 votes
1 answer
245 views

An upper bound on the number of sets of parallel lines covering points in a finite plane?

Let $\mathbb{F}$ be a finite field of characteristic $2$. Let $L_m$ denote the set of lines in $\mathbb{F}^2$ with slope $m\in\mathbb{F}$, that is, all parallel lines of the form $y=mx+b$. Consider a ...
3 votes
2 answers
256 views

Picking codewords that are close

I posted this question in https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1142698/picking-codewords-that-are-close a week back. Let $[n,k,d]$ be a linear code over $\Bbb F_q$ with minimum distance $d$ and ...
4 votes
1 answer
382 views

Counting couples of square-free polynomials over finite fields

I have a curve defined by the following equations over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ with $q=p^r$ with $p \geq 3$: $$C_{h_1,h_2}:\begin{cases} y_1^2=h_1(t) & \\ y_2^2=h_2(t) &...
1 vote
0 answers
207 views

Polynomial existence over finite field

Denote $\mathcal{F_n}$ as collection of multiaffine polynomials $f\in\Bbb F_2[x_1,\dots,x_n]$. Denote total degree of $f\in\mathcal{F_n}$ as $deg(f)$ (note $deg(f)\leq n$). Denote $e_i=(0,\dots,0,\...
2 votes
0 answers
337 views

Enumerating certain types of permutation polynomials

Given a prime power $q$, I would like to enumerate (preferably up to isomorphism*) all the permutation polynomials $f(x)$ on $K = GF(q^3)$ satisfying the following conditions: $f(ax) = af(x)$ for all ...
7 votes
2 answers
843 views

Dimension of incomplete matrix over finite fields.

Hi, Suppose one has an incompletely specified $2^n \times 2^n$ matrix over some fixed finite field $\mathbb{F}_{p^k}$. In fact, one knows that the diagonal entries are zero and all other entries are ...
6 votes
1 answer
372 views

A parity counting problem for subsets over finite fields

Let ${\mathbb F}_p$ be the prime field of $p$ elements and $b$ be an element in ${\mathbb F}_p$. For a subset $T\subseteq {\mathbb F}_p$, define $$Bias(T)=|N_e( {\mathbb F}_p,b)-N_o( {\mathbb F}_p,b)|...
8 votes
0 answers
304 views

A strong sum-product "for translates" in finite fields

In the course of some recent research, I've sketched out a proof of the following result. My basis question is: is the result interesting? Proposition There exists an absolute constant $c$ such ...
4 votes
0 answers
215 views

What is the function like when its Mobius inversion is $\sum_{w|r, (w,t)=1}\mu(w)q^{r/w}$?

Everyone, I am now reading a paper named The Irreducible Factors of $(cx+d)x^{q^m}-(ax+b)$ over $GF(q)$, http://qjmath.oxfordjournals.org/content/14/1/61.extract. And I’m confused with one of its ...
3 votes
1 answer
427 views

Ranks of higher incidence matrices of designs

In 1978 Doyen, Hubaut and Vandensavel proved that if $S$ is a Steiner triple system $S(2,3,v)$ then the $GF(2)$ rank of its incidence matrix $N$ is $$ Rk_{2}(N)=v-(d_{p}+1), $$ where $d_{p}$ is the ...
8 votes
1 answer
375 views

A Balog-Szemeredi-Gowers-type question

A nice Lemma due to Konyagin asserts that for any subset $B \subset \mathbb{F}_p$ holds $$ |B.B - B.B + B.B - B.B + B.B - B.B| \geq \frac{1}{2}\min\{p, |B|^2 \}, $$ where the standard notation for the ...
17 votes
1 answer
381 views

Do mutually dual finite vector spaces have the same orbit cardinalities under a linear group action?

Let $G$ be a finite group acting linearly on a finite dimensional vector space $V$ over a finite field. By Burnside's lemma, $$ |V/G| = \frac 1{|G|} \sum_{g\in G} q^{\dim(ker(g - I))}. $$ Since $g-I$ ...
5 votes
1 answer
447 views

More expanders?

Having received several exhausting answers to my recent question about the expansion properties of a certain graph, I now wonder whether anything is known on the following graphs of a similar nature: ...
17 votes
4 answers
1k views

A mixing property for finite fields of characteristic $2$

In connection with this MO post, here is a question somewhat implicitly contained in a joint paper of S. Kopparty, S. Saraf, M. Sudan, and myself. Let ${\mathbb F}$ be a finite field, and suppose ...
9 votes
2 answers
543 views

A mixing property of linear map over finite fields

Let $F$ be a finite field of odd size $q$, and $\phi_0 : F \mapsto F$ be any map from $F$ to itself. For each $a \in F$, set $\phi_a : x \in F \mapsto \phi_0 (x) + ax $. When $\phi_0 : x \mapsto x^2 ...
1 vote
0 answers
413 views

Combinatorial Interpretation of an Extension of Gaussian Polynomials

It is well-known that the Gaussian polynomial (or Gaussian coefficient, q-binomial coefficient) $\binom{n}{k}_q$ counts the number of $k$-dimensional subspaces of an $n$-dimensional vector space over $...
20 votes
2 answers
2k views

Sums of powers mod p

For prime $p > 7$ with $p-1=rs$, $r>1$, $s>1$, let $A=\{x^r|x \in \mathbb{Z}_p\}$ and $B = \{x^s|x \in \mathbb{Z}_p\}$. If $g$ is a primitive root mod $p$ then $A = \{0\} \cup \{g^{ir}|0 \leq ...
7 votes
2 answers
476 views

A quadratic form

Let $q$ be a power of 2. Let $P$ be the set of polynomials in $F_q [x]$ of degree d or less. Let $\mathbb{Z}$ be the ring of integers. For any $f \in P$, let $\psi(f)$ be the number of distinct ...

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