English

An octonion algebra originating in combinatorics

Rings and Algebras 2010-12-24 v2 Combinatorics

Abstract

C.H. Yang discovered a polynomial version of the classical Lagrange identity expressing the product of two sums of four squares as another sum of four squares. He used it to give short proofs of some important theorems on composition of delta-codes (now known as T-sequences). We investigate the possible new versions of his polynomial Lagrange identity. Our main result shows that all such identities are equivalent to each other.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1002.2752,
  title  = {An octonion algebra originating in combinatorics},
  author = {D. Z. Djokovic and K. Zhao},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1002.2752},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

11 pages, A simpler proof of the main theorem, due to Alberto Elduque, is inserted. The paper will appear in the Proc. Amer. Math. Soc

R2 v1 2026-06-21T14:46:51.961Z