Mohan S. Shrikhande

The aim of this book is to provide a unified exposition of the theory of symmetric designs with emphasis on recent developments. The authors cover the combinatorial aspects of the theory giving particular attention to the construction of symmetric designs and related objects. The last five chapters of the book are devoted to balanced generalized weighing matrices, decomposable symmetric designs, subdesigns of symmetric designs, non-embeddable quasi-residual designs, and Ryser designs. Most results in these chapters have never previously appeared in book form. The book concludes with a comprehensive bibliography of over 400 entries. Researchers in all areas of combinatorial designs, including coding theory and finite geometries, will find much of interest here. Detailed proofs and a large number of exercises make this book suitable as a text for an advanced course in combinatorial designs.

Design theory is a branch of combinatorics with applications in number theory, coding theory and geometry. In this, the first book on the subject, the authors discuss the generalization of results and applications to quasi-symmetric designs. The coverage is comprehensive and will be useful for researchers and graduate students. An attractive feature is the discussion of unsolved problems.