I L ' , l ~ | i [ ~ i i ~ . iI i [ , - ~ - l I : ~ q - i ( ~ , ~ . = I , l., - , , ~ , i ~ - ' - = "
he card game called SET 1 is a n ex-
The Card
Game SET
Benjamin Lent Davis and
Diane Maclagan
This column is a place for those bits of
contagious mathematics that travel
from person to person in the
community, because they are so
elegant, suprising, or appealing that
one has an urge to pass them on.
Contributions are most welcome.
Please send all submissions to the
Mathematical Entertainments Editor,
Ravi Vakil, Stanford University,
Department of Mathematics, Bldg. 380,
Stanford, CA 9 4 3 0 5 - 2 1 2 5 , USA
e-mail: vakil@mat h.stanford.edu
Michael K-leber and Ravi Vakil, Editors
T h e SET r u l e : T h r e e cards are called
T tremely addictive, fast-paced g a m e
f o u n d in toy s t o r e s n a t i o n w i d e . Al-
though children often b e a t adults, the
game has a rich m a t h e m a t i c a l struc-
ture linking it to the c o m b i n a t o r i c s of
finite affine and projective s p a c e s a n d
the theory of e r r o r - c o r r e c t i n g codes.
Last year an u n e x p e c t e d c o n n e c t i o n to
F o u r i e r analysis was u s e d to settle a
basic question directly r e l a t e d to the
game of SET, a n d m a n y r e l a t e d ques-
tions remain open.
The game of SET was i n v e n t e d by
population geneticist Marsha J e a n Falco
in 1974. She w a s s t u d y i n g e p i l e p s y in
G e r m a n Shepherds a n d b e g a n repre-
s e n t i n g genetic data o n the dogs by
drawing symbols o n cards a n d t h e n
searching for p a t t e r n s in the data. Af-
ter realizing the p o t e n t i a l as a chal-
lenging puzzle, with e n c o u r a g e m e n t
from friends a n d family she d e v e l o p e d
a n d marketed the card game. Since
then, SET has b e c o m e a h u g e hit b o t h
inside and outside the m a t h e m a t i c a l
community.
SET is played with a special d e c k of
cards (Fig. 1). E a c h SET card displays a
design with four a t t r i b u t e s - - n u m b e r ,
shading, color, a n d s h a p e - - a n d each
attribute a s s u m e s o n e of t h r e e possi-
ble values, given in Table 1.
Table 1
Number: {One, Two, Three}
Shading: {Solid, Striped, Open}
Color: {Red, Green, Purple}
Shape: {Ovals, Squiggles, Diamonds}
A SET deck has eighty-one cards, o n e
for each possible c o m b i n a t i o n of at-
tributes. The goal of the g a m e is to find
collections of c a r d s satisfying the fol-
lowing rule.
SET iS a trademark of SET Enterprises, Inc. The SET
cards are depicted here with permission. SET game
play is protected intellectual property.
@2003 SPRINGER-VERLAGNEWYORK. VOLUME25. NUMBER3. 2003 33
!
a SET if, with r e s p e c t to e a c h of the
four attributes, t h e c a r d s are either
all the s a m e or all different.
F o r example, F i g u r e 2 i l l u s t r a t e s a
g r e e n SET. All c a r d s h a v e the s a m e
s h a p e (ovals), the s a m e c o l o r (green),
a n d the s a m e s h a d i n g (solid), a n d e a c h
card has a different n u m b e r o f ovals.
On the o t h e r hand, F i g u r e 3, also green,
fails to be a SET, b e c a u s e t h e r e are t w o
oval cards a n d o n e squiggle card. T h u s
the cards are n e i t h e r all the s a m e n o r
all different with r e s p e c t to the s h a p e
attribute.
To play the game, the SET d e c k is
shuffled a n d twelve c a r d s are dealt to
a table face-up (Fig. 4). All p l a y e r s si-
m u l t a n e o u s l y s e a r c h for SETS. The first
player to locate a SET r e m o v e s it, a n d
three n e w c a r d s are dealt. The p l a y e r
with the m o s t SETS after all the c a r d s
have b e e n dealt is the w i n n e r .
Occasionally, t h e r e will n o t b e a n y
SETS a m o n g the t w e l v e c a r d s initially
dealt. To r e m e d y this, t h r e e e x t r a c a r d s
are dealt. This is r e p e a t e d u n t i l a SET
m a k e s a n a p p e a r a n c e . This p r o m p t s
the following SET-theoretic question.
Q u e s t i o n . How many cards must
be dealt to g u a r a n t e e the p r e s e n c e
of a SET?
Figure 5 s h o w s a c o l l e c t i o n of t w e n t y
c a r d s c o n t a i n i n g n o SETS. A b r u t e - f o r c e
c o m p u t e r s e a r c h s h o w s t h a t this is as
large as possible, as a n y c o l l e c t i o n of
t w e n t y - o n e c a r d s m u s t c o n t a i n a SET.
T h e r e is a w o n d e r f u l g e o m e t r i c re-
f o r m u l a t i o n of this Q u e s t i o n as fol-
lows. Let 1:3 b e t h e field w i t h t h r e e el-
e m e n t s , a n d c o n s i d e r the v e c t o r s p a c e
Figure 1. Typical SET cards.
F i g u r e 2, A SET,
~4. A p o i n t of I=4 is a 4-tuple of the f o r m
(xl, x2, x3, x4), w h e r e each c o o r d i n a t e
a s s u m e s o n e of three possible values.
U s i n g the t a b l e of SET a t t r i b u t e s (Table
1), SET c a r d s c o r r e s p o n d to p o i n t s of
$43, a n d vice-versa.
(2, 1, 3, 2) ( ) Two Solid Purple
Squiggles ( ) four attributes, from a m a t h e m a t i c a l
U n d e r this c o r r e s p o n d e n c e , t h r e e
c a r d s f o r m a SET if a n d only if the t h r e e
a s s o c i a t e d p o i n t s of 1:4 are collinear.
To see this, n o t i c e that if a, /3, 7 are
t h r e e e l e m e n t s of I=3,t h e n a + fl + 7 =
0ifandonlyifa=fi= 7 0 r { a , fi, 7 } =
{0, 1, 2}. This m e a n s that the v e c t o r s a,
b, a n d c are either all the s a m e o r all
d i f f e r e n t with r e s p e c t to each coordi-
n a t e e x a c t l y w h e n a + b + e = 0. N o w
a+b +c=0in1:4meansthata-b=
b - c, so the t h r e e p o i n t s are collinear.
Note t h a t this a r g u m e n t w o r k s w h e n 1:4
is r e p l a c e d b y I:d for a n y d. F r o m this
p o i n t of view, p l a y e r s of SET are search-
ing for l i n e s c o n t a i n e d in a s u b s e t of
F 4. We s u m m a r i z e this rule as follows.
The Affine Collinearity Rule.
T h r e e p o i n t s a, b, c E I:~ r e p r e s e n t
c o l l i n e a r p o i n t s if a n d only if a +
b+e=O.
We define a d-cap to b e a s u b s e t of
1:~ n o t c o n t a i n i n g a n y lines, a n d ask the
following.
E q u i v a l e n t Q u e s t i o n . What is the
m a x i m u m possible size of a cap in 1:4?
In this f o r m the q u e s t i o n was first
answered, without using computers,
b y G i u s e p p e Pellegrino [19] in 1971.
Note t h a t this w a s t h r e e years b e f o r e
the g a m e of SET w a s invented! He ac-
tually a n s w e r e d a m o r e g e n e r a l ques-
t i o n a b o u t "projective SET," w h i c h w e
e x p l a i n in the last section.
F i g u r e 3. N o t a SET,
34 THE MATHEMATICALINTELLIGENCER
Figure 4. C a n y o u find all five SETS? (Or all eight for those readers with black-and-white p h o -
tocopies,)
Although SET cards are d e s c r i b e d by
p e r s p e c t i v e there is n o t h i n g sacred
a b o u t the n u m b e r four. We c a n play a
t h r e e - a t t r i b u t e version of SET, for ex-
a m p l e by playing with only the red
cards. Or w e can play a five-attribute
v e r s i o n of SET by using scratch-and-
sniff SET cards with three different
odors. In general, we define a n a f f i n e
SET g a m e o f d i m e n s i o n d to be a card
g a m e with o n e card for each p o i n t of
l:d3, w h e r e three cards form a SET if the
c o r r e s p o n d i n g points are collinear.
A cap of the m a x i m u m p o s s i b l e size
is called a m a x i m a l cap. It is n a t u r a l
to ask for the size of a m a x i m a l cap in
I:~, as a f u n c t i o n of the d i m e n s i o n d.
We d e n o t e this n u m b e r by ad, a n d the
k n o w n v a l u e s are given in Table 2.
Table 2
8d 2 4 9 20 45 112<-a6-<114 ? o u r a t t e n t i o n here to caps (line-free
The v a l u e s of ad in d i m e n s i o n s four a n d
b e l o w c a n b e found by exhaustive com-
p u t e r search. The search space be-
c o m e s u n m a n a g e a b l y large starting in
d i m e n s i o n five. Yves Edel, Sandy Fer-
ret, Ivan Landjev, and Leo Storme re-
Figure 5. T w e n t y cards w i t h o u t a SET,
cently c r e a t e d quite a stir b y a n n o u n c -
ing the s o l u t i o n in d i m e n s i o n five [6].
We shall s p e n d s o m e time w o r k i n g o u r
w a y up to their solution.
There are m a n y other possible gen-
eralizations of the game of SET. F o r ex-
ample, w e c o u l d add a n o t h e r color,
shape, form of shading, a n d n u m b e r to
the cards, to m a k e the c a r d s corre-
s p o n d to p o i n t s of I-4. Here, however,
several c h o i c e s n e e d to be m a d e a b o u t
the SET rule. Is a SET a c o l l e c t i o n of
cards w h e r e every a t t r i b u t e is all the
s a m e or all different, or is it a collec-
tion of collinear p o i n t s ? In I: 4, there are
four p o i n t s o n a line, so do w e require
three or four collinear p o i n t s to form a
SET? F u r t h e r m o r e , if we c h o o s e the
collinearity criterion, t h e n collinearity
of SET cards is sensitive to the choice
of w h i c h color, shape, etc. c o r r e s p o n d s
to w h i c h e l e m e n t of F44. B e c a u s e of
t h e s e c o m p l i c a t i o n s we will restrict
collections) in I:d.
We c a n exhibit caps graphically us-
ing the following scheme. Let us con-
sider the case of d i m e n s i o n d = 2. A
t w o - a t t r i b u t e v e r s i o n of SET m a y be re-
alized by playing with o n l y the red
ovals. The v e c t o r space F 2 c a n be
 5-cap

xr ix
1-cap
xl Ix

2-cap

Figure 6. The correspondence between 2-at-

tribute SET and ~2.

graphically r e p r e s e n t e d as a tic-tac-toe 3-cap

b o a r d as in F i g u r e 6. We i n d i c a t e a sub-
set S of ]: 32 by d r a w i n g a n "X" in each X
square of the tic-tac-toe b o a r d corre-
s p o n d i n g to a p o i n t of S. The lines con-
tained in S are a l m o s t p l a i n to see: most
of t h e m a p p e a r as w i n n i n g tic-tac-toes,
while a few m e e t a n edge of the b o a r d
a n d "loop a r o u n d " to the opposite 4-cap
xl
edge. Check that the two lines in Fig-
[ X
ure 7 c o r r e s p o n d to SETS in Figure 4. XX
Figure 8 c o n t a i n s p i c t u r e s of some i' x ti
l o w - d i m e n s i o n a l m a x i m a l caps. In di-
m e n s i o n s o n e t h r o u g h four, the caps X I
are visibly ssqnmetrical, a n d each cap
c o n t a i n s e m b e d d e d copies of the max-

imal caps in l o w e r d i m e n s i o n s . No
such p a t t e r n is visible in the diagram
of the 5-cap. It is n a t u r a l to ask if the
m a x i m a l caps in Figure 8 are the only
ones in e a c h d i m e n s i o n . In a trivial
sense, the a n s w e r is 'no', s i n c e we can
m a k e a n e w cap b y p e r m u t i n g the col-
Figure 8. Low-dimensional maximal caps.
ors of an old cap. T h e r e are m a n y other
p e r n m t a t i o n s of F~3 / g u a r a n t e e d to pro-
duce n e w c a p s f r o m old. P e r m u t a t i o n s those taking lines to lines, a n d s u c h a d e c l a r e d the c e n t e r square o f t h e tic-
of ~ taking c a p s to caps are exactly p e r m u t a t i o n is called a n affine trans- tac-toe b o a r d to be the origin o f F 23 .
formation. A n o t h e r c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n It is k n o w n that in d i m e n s i o n s five
of affine t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s is that they a n d b e l o w t h e r e is e x a c t l y o n e t y p e of
is I i 9 i/ ~1
/ / i i
are the p e r m u t a t i o n s of ~:d of the form m a x i m a l cap. A n affine t r a n s f o r m a t i o n
t a k i n g a cap to itself is called a s y m -

i"
,," J J
x., X
i
I
i s /
I(
p -i

/
of.v) = Av + b,
w h e r e A is an i n v e r t i b l e d x d - m a t r i x
m e t r y of the cap. A l t h o u g h it is n o t ob-
v i o u s from Figure 8, the m a x i m a l 5-cap
i s i S'l /

s ~ r 't with entries in ~-3, b is a n a r b i t r a r y vec- d o e s have s o m e s y m m e t r i e s . In fact, its

tor of F~, a n d v is a v e c t o r in F d. We s y m m e t r y group is transitive, m e a n i n g
s ~ i 9 i
.f Ir I say that two caps are of the s a m e type that, given two p o i n t s of t h e 5-cap,
4 .. i i
if there is a n affine t r a n s f o r m a t i o n t h e r e is a l w a y s a s y m m e t r y t a k i n g o n e
taking one to the other. F o r example,
9
9 s " X / " " i
iX, I
c o n s i d e r the affine t r a n s f o r m a t i o n o(x,
r 9 99 i i
r ! t
9" Is i i y)=(-x-y,-x+y- 1) t a k i n g a

lxl , ; x :l
" t i
vector (x, y) E ~ to a n o t h e r v e c t o r in
Figure 7. This collection of points contains ]:2. Applying this to a 2-cap gives an-
two lines which are indicated by dashed other 2-cap of the s a m e type. This is il-
curves. lustrated in Figure 9, w h e r e we have Figure 9. Two 2-caps of the s a m e type.

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 3. 2003 35

 t o t h e other. M i c h a e l K l e b e r r e p o r t s
t h a t the s t a b i l i z e r o f a p o i n t in t h e
5-cap is t h e s e m i d i h e d r a l g r o u p o f or-
d e r 16.
T h e s y m m e t r y g r o u p is u s e f u l for re-
ducing the number of cases that need
t o b e c h e c k e d in e x h a u s t i v e c o m p u t e r
s e a r c h e s for m a x i m a l caps, t h u s
g r e a t l y s p e e d i n g up r u n times. To s e e
t h i s i d e a in action, c h e c k o u t D o n a l d
K n u t h ' s SET-theoretic c o m p u t e r p r o -
g r a m s [17].
Combinatorics
W e c a n m a k e s o m e p r o g r e s s on c o m -
p u t i n g t h e size o f m a x i m a l c a p s using
only counting arguments.
Proposition I. A m a x i m a l 2-cap has
f o u r points.
Proof. We h a v e e x h i b i t e d a 2-cap w i t h
f o u r points. The p r o o f p r o c e e d s b y
c o n t r a d i c t i o n . S u p p o s e t h a t t h e r e ex-
i s t s a 2-cap w i t h five p o i n t s , x l , x2, x3,
x4, xs. The p l a n e D=2 c a n b e d e c o m p o s e d
as the union of three horizontal paral-
lel lines as in F i g u r e 10.
E a c h line c o n t a i n s a t m o s t t w o
p o i n t s o f t h e cap. Thus, t h e r e a r e t w o
h o r i z o n t a l lines t h a t c o n t a i n t w o p o i n t s
o f t h e cap, a n d o n e line, H, t h a t con-
t a i n s e x a c t l y o n e p o i n t o f t h e cap. With-
o u t loss o f generality, let x5 b e this
p o i n t . T h e r e a r e e x a c t l y f o u r lines in
t h e p l a n e c o n t a i n i n g t h e p o i n t Xs,
w h i c h w e d e n o t e H, L1, L2, L3. This is
i l l u s t r a t e d in F i g u r e 11.
Since t h e line H c o n t a i n s n o n e o f t h e
p o i n t s Xl, 9 . . , x4, b y t h e p i g e o n - h o l e
p r i n c i p l e t w o o f t h e s e p o i n t s x~ a n d Xs
m u s t lie o n o n e line L~-. This s h o w s t h a t
t h e line L~ c o n t a i n s t h e p o i n t s xr, xs a n d
x5, w h i c h c o n t r a d i c t s t h e h y p o t h e s i s
t h a t t h e five p o i n t s a r e a cap. []
We c a n a p p l y t h e m e t h o d o f P r o p o -
s i t i o n 1 to c o m p u t e t h e size o f a m a x -
i m a l c a p in t h r e e d i m e n s i o n s .
. . . . . 4 n a m e l y , c o u n t i n g t h e s a m e thing in t w o
. . . . .
H ::::::
. . . . .
Figure 10. [F~ decomposed as the union of
three parallel lines.
36 THE MATHEMATICAL INTELLIGENCER
L3
I:
"'".i?
....,j..-L2
Figure 11. The four lines containing xs.
Proposition 2. A maximal 3-cap has
nine points.
Proof. We h a v e e x h i b i t e d a 3-cap with
nine points. The p r o o f p r o c e e d s by
c o n t r a d i c t i o n . S u p p o s e t h a t t h e r e ex-
ists a 3-cap with t e n points. The s p a c e
~:33c a n b e d e c o m p o s e d as the union of
t h r e e p a r a l l e l planes. Since the inter-
s e c t i o n o f a n y p l a n e with the 3-cap is
a 2-cap, P r o p o s i t i o n 1 i m p l i e s that no
p l a n e c a n c o n t a i n m o r e t h a n four
p o i n t s o f t h e cap. This m e a n s that the
p l a n e c o n t a i n i n g t h e f e w e s t n u m b e r of
points must contain either two or three
points, for if it c o n t a i n e d f o u r p o i n t s
w e w o u l d n e e d twelve p o i n t s total, a n d
o n e o r z e r o p o i n t s w o u l d m e a n at m o s t
nine p o i n t s total. Call this p l a n e H, and
n o t e t h a t t h e r e a r e at l e a s t s e v e n p o i n t s
o f t h e cap, x l , 9 - . , XT, n o t c o n t a i n e d in
H.
Let a a n d b be t w o p o i n t s o f the cap
o n t h e p l a n e H. There a r e e x a c t l y four
p l a n e s in t h e s p a c e B:3 c o n t a i n i n g b o t h
a a n d b, w h i c h w e d e n o t e H, MI, M2,
M3. Since H d o e s n o t c o n t a i n t h e p o i n t s
Xl, . 9 . , x7, b y the p i g e o n - h o l e princi-
p l e o n e o f t h e p l a n e s Mi m u s t c o n t a i n
t h r e e o f t h e s e p o i n t s Xr, xs, xt. This
s h o w s t h a t t h e p l a n e 214/contains a to-
tal o f five p o i n t s o f t h e cap, w h i c h con-
t r a d i c t s P r o p o s i t i o n 1. []
U n f o r t u n a t e l y , this m e t h o d is n o t
s t r o n g e n o u g h to p r o v e t h a t a4 ~-- 20.
To d o this, w e e m p l o y a n o t h e r time-
honored combinatorial technique,
d i f f e r e n t ways. By w a y o f i n t r o d u c t i o n ,
w e will give a n o t h e r p r o o f t h a t a3 = 9.
Proposition 3. A maximal 3-cap has
nine points.
Proof. The p r o o f is again b y c o n t r a d i c -
tion. S u p p o s e that t h e r e e x i s t s a 3-cap
C w i t h t e n points. The s p a c e ~:33c a n b e
d e c o m p o s e d as t h e u n i o n o f t h r e e par-
allel p l a n e s , H 1 , / / 2 , / / 3 in m a n y differ-
e n t ways. G i v e n s u c h a d e c o m p o s i t i o n ,
we obtain a triple of numbers,
{!C N HI J, !C n H2 ~, C r/H.3!},
c a l l e d t h e (unordered) hyperplane
triple, w h e r e ]C N Hi] is t h e size o f C n
Hi. Since a 2-cap has at m o s t a2 = 4
points, t h e o n l y p o s s i b l e v a l u e s for a
h y p e r p l a n e triple are {4, 4, 2} or {4, 3, 3}.
Let
a = t h e n u m b e r o f {4, 4, 2}
h y p e r p l a n e triples,
b = t h e n u m b e r o f {4, 3, 3}
h y p e r p l a n e triples.
H o w m a n y d i f f e r e n t w a y s a r e t h e r e to
d e c o m p o s e U:3 a s the union o f t h r e e hy-
p e r p l a n e s ? On t h e one hand, t h e r e a r e
a + b ways. On t h e o t h e r hand, t h e r e is
a u n i q u e line t h r o u g h the origin o f U:3
p e r p e n d i c u l a r to e a c h family o f t h r e e
parallel hyperplanes, and we can count
t h e s e lines a s follows: A n y n o n z e r o
p o i n t d e t e r m i n e s a line t h r o u g h the ori-
gin, a n d t h e r e a r e 33 - 1 = 26 n o n z e r o
points. Since e a c h line c o n t a i n s t w o
n o n z e r o p o i n t s , t h e r e m u s t b e 26/2 =
13 lines t h r o u g h t h e origin. Thus,
a+b=13.
To o b t a i n a n o t h e r equation in a and
b, w e will c o u n t 2-marked planes,
w h i c h are p a i r s o f the form (H, {x, y} c
H N C), w h e r e H is a plane. It can b e
c h e c k e d t h a t t h e r e are e x a c t l y four
p l a n e s c o n t a i n i n g any pair of distinct
points. This is a special c a s e of Propo-
sition 4 w h i c h follows. Thus, there a r e
4(12~ = 180 2 - m a r k e d planes. On the
o t h e r hand, for e a c h {4, 4, 2} h y p e r p l a n e
triple w e c o u n t (4) + (4) + (2) = 13
2 - m a r k e d p l a n e s , a n d for e a c h {4, 3, 3}
h y p e r p l a n e triple w e count (4) + (23) +
(3) = 12 2 - m a r k e d planes. Hence,
13a + 12b = 180.
The o n l y s o l u t i o n to t h e s e equations is
a = 24, b = - 1 1 . This is a c o n t r a d i c -
t i o n s i n c e a a n d b can only t a k e non-
negative values. []
In t h e p r o o f a b o v e w e n e e d e d to
c o u n t t h e n u m b e r o f h y p e r p l a n e s con-
taining a f i x e d p a i r of points, or in
o t h e r w o r d s , c o n t a i n i n g a fLxed line. To
a p p l y this m e t h o d to m a x i m a l 4-caps,
w e will n e e d to solve a g e n e r a l i z a t i o n
of this p r o b l e m . Define a k-fiat to b e a
k - d i m e n s i o n a l affine s u b s p a c e o f a vec-
t o r space.
Proposition 4. The n u m b e r ofhyper-
planes containing a f i x e d k-fiat in $d
is given by
3d k - 1 a p p r o a c h w h i c h c o m p u t e s as.
2 puting e a c h c o e f f i c i e n t a b o v e y i e l d s
Proof. Let K b e a k-flat c o n t a i n i n g t h e
origin. Then the n a t u r a l m a p
~-~ --~ ~ /K ~-- F~ -k
gives a b i j e c t i o n b e t w e e n h y p e r p l a n e s
of I:d c o n t a i n i n g K a n d h y p e r p l a n e s o f
1=d-k c o n t a i n i n g the origin.
E a c h h y p e r p l a n e containing the ori-
gin is d e t e r m i n e d by a n o n z e r o n o r m a l
vector, a n d there are e x a c t l y t w o
nonzero n o m m l v e c t o r s d e t e n n i u i n g
each hyperplane. Thus, t h e r e are haft as
m a n y h y p e r p l a n e s as t h e r e a r e n o n z e r o
vectors. Since there a r e 3 d - k - 1 non-
zero vectors, there m u s t b e (34-k _ 1)/2
h y p e r p l a n e s containing the origin. []
This lets us a p p l y t h e i d e a s o f
P r o p o s i t i o n 3 to c a l c u l a t e a4-
P r o p o s i t i o n 5. A m a x i m a l 4-cap has
twenty points.
Proof. We have e x h i b i t e d a 4-cap w i t h
20 points. The p r o o f p r o c e e d s b y con-
tradiction. S u p p o s e t h a t t h e r e e x i s t s a
4-cap C w i t h 21 points. Let xijk b e t h e
n u m b e r o f {i,j, k} h y p e r p l a n e t r i p l e s o f
C. Since a 3-cap h a s a t m o s t a3 = 9
points, t h e r e a r e o n l y 7 p o s s i b l e hy-
p e r p l a n e triples:
{i,j, k} = {9, 9, 3}, [9, 8, 4}, {9, 7, 5},
{9, 6, 6}, {8, 8, 5}, {8, 7, 6}, {7, 7, 7}.
The n u m b e r o f w a y s to d e c o m p o s e I:~
as a union of three parallel hyperplaues
is equal to t h e n u m b e r o f lines t h r o u g h
the origin in I:~, w h i c h is (34 - 1)/2 =
40. Thus,
(1) X993 4- X984 -[- X975 4- X966
4- X885 4- X876 4- X777 : 40.
To obtain a n o t h e r e q u a t i o n in Xijk, let
us c o u n t 2-marked hyperplanes, w h i c h
a r e p a i r s o f t h e f o r m (H, {x, y} C H N
C), w h e r e H is a h y p e r p l a n e . Using
P r o p o s i t i o n 4 above, w e find t h a t t h e
number of hyperplanes containing a
d i s t i n c t p a i r o f p o i n t s is 13. Thus, t h e r e
are 13(2,1) = 2 7 3 0 2 - m a r k e d h y p e r -
planes. As in t h e p r o o f o f P r o p o s i t i o n
3, t h e r e are
+... + [(;) + (;) +
2-marked h y p e r p l a n e s . E x p l i c i t l y c o m -
the f o r m u l a
(2) 75X993 + 70X984 + 67x975 + 66X966
+ 66Xs85 + 64Xs76 + 63x777 = 2730.
To o b t a i n y e t a n o t h e r e q u a t i o n in
Xo.k, let us c o u n t 3-marked hyper-
planes, w h i c h a r e p a i r s o f t h e f o r m (H,
{x, y, z} C H rh C), w h e r e H is a hy-
perplane. Notice that, s i n c e {x, y, z / C
C, the p o i n t s x, y, a n d z c a n n o t b e
cotlinear. There a r e 4 h y p e r p l a n e s con-
taining 3 distinct n o n - c o l l i n e a r points,
thus, t h e r e are 4(21) = 5320 3 - m a r k e d
hyperplanes. I m i t a t i n g o u r c o u n t o f 2-
m a r k e d h y p e r p l a n e s a b o v e , w e find
that
(3) 169x993 + 144Xgs4 + 129x975
+ 124x966 + 122Xss5 + l l l x s 7 6
4- 105x777 = 5320.
We n o w have t h r e e e q u a t i o n s in
s e v e n variables, a n d s o in p r i n c i p l e
t h e r e c o u l d b e infinitely m a n y solu-
tions. F o r t u n a t e l y w e a r e o n l y inter-
e s t e d in the n o n n e g a t i v e i n t e g e r solu-
tions. Adding 693 t i m e s e q u a t i o n (1) to
t h r e e t i m e s e q u a t i o n (3), a n d t h e n sub-
tracting off 6 t i m e s e q u a t i o n (2), gives
53;984 + 8X975 + 9X966 -t- 3X885
+ 2Xs76 = 0.
The only n o n n e g a t i v e s o l u t i o n to this
equation is Xos4 = x975 : x966 : x885 ~-
Xs76 = 0. But e q u a t i o n (2) m i n u s 63
t i m e s equation (1) is
123;993 4- 7X984 -}- 4X975 4- 3X966
-}- 3X885 4- 3?876 ----210.
This r e d u c e s t o 1 2 X 9 9 3 = 210, w h i c h
c o n t r a d i c t s x993 b e i n g a n integer. []
This p r o o f w a s i m p r o v e d f r o m a pre-
vious version b y c o n v e r s a t i o n s with
Yves Edel. The m e t h o d o f counting
marked hyperplanes via hyperplane
triples gives the s h o r t e s t k n o w n p r o o f
o f a4 ----20 t h a t d o e s n o t u s e an exhaus-
tive c o m p u t e r search. Unfortunately, a
s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d a p p l i c a t i o n o f this
m e t h o d fails t o s h o w t h a t a5 = 45. P a r t
of the p r o b l e m is t h a t the n e w e q u a t i o n s
counting 4 - m a r k e d h y p e r p l a n e s require
an a d d i t i o n a l v a r i a b l e to distinguish be-
tween the cases when four points are
affmely d e p e n d e n t o r i n d e p e n d e n t . In
the next section we describe another
The Fourier Transform
The F o u r i e r t r a n s f o r m is a n i m m e n s e l y
useful t o o l f o r a n a l y z i n g p r o b l e m s w i t h
a s s o c i a t e d s y m m e t r y g r o u p s . It is a
n a t u r a l c o n s t r u c t i o n in r e p r e s e n t a t i o n
theory, and we refer the reader to the
b o o k o f F u l t o n a n d H a r r i s [7] for m o r e
a b o u t this f a s c i n a t i n g s u b j e c t . In this
section we describe a Fourier trans-
f o r m m e t h o d o r i g i n a t e d b y R o y Meshu-
l a m [18] w h i c h w a s l a t e r u s e d b y Jiir-
gen B i e r b r a u e r a n d Yves E d e l [1]. The
following b o u n d a p p e a r s in t h e s e pa-
pers:
Proposition 6. Let C C I:d be a d-cap
such that a n y hyperplane intersects C
i n at most h points. Then
1 +3h
P--< h ,
1+--
3d-1
where p is the size of C.
In p a r t i c u l a r , a n y h y p e r p l a n e inter-
s e c t s a d - c a p in a (d - 1)-cap. S t a r t i n g
w i t h t h e f a c t t h a t a l = 2, w e c a n in-
d u c t i v e l y a p p l y P r o p o s i t i o n 6 to o b t a i n
a2 --< 4, a3 --< 9, a4 ~ 21.
The b o u n d a 6 -~ 114 c o m e s f r o m ap-
p l y i n g P r o p o s i t i o n 6 u s i n g h = a5 = 45
a n d d = 6. Thus, for l o w - d i m e n s i o n a l
caps, P r o p o s i t i o n 6 gives n e a r l y s h a r p
b o u n d s . In c o n t r a s t to o t h e r m e t h o d s ,
Proposition 6 does not become more
difficult to a p p l y as t h e d i m e n s i o n
g r o w s larger.
Given a f u n c t i o n f : I:d --> C, define
t h e Fourier transform o f f t o b e a n e w
f u n c t i o n f : I:~ --~ C d e f i n e d b y t h e for-
mula
(4) f ( z ) = ~, f(x)~ zx,
x~ ~
w h e r e ~ = e 2~/s. G i v e n a s e t S C I:d3,
t h e characteristic f u n c t i o n o f S is de-
fined b y t h e f o r m u l a
X(x) =
10 if x E S,
if x ~ S.
VOLUME 25, NUMBER 3, 2003 37
 K n o w i n g t h e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c f u n c t i o n of
S is e x a c t l y t h e s a m e as k n o w i n g the
s e t S. T h e F o u r i e r t r a n s f o r m o f the
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c function,
= Z
has a natural geometric interpretation
as follows. N o t i c e first t h a t 7(0) is sim-
p l y t h e size o f t h e s e t S. Next, let z b e
a n o n z e r o v e c t o r , a n d c o n s i d e r the
t h r e e p a r a l l e l h y p e r p l a n e s H0, H b Ha
n o r m a l to z, w h e r e
H j = {x ~ F~, z . x = j}.
To e a c h n o n z e r o v e c t o r z w e a s s o c i a t e
an ( o r d e r e d ) h y p e r p l a n e triple
(h0, ha, h2)
=(,SAH0, 'SAH~', 'SAH2').
P r o p o s i t i o n 7. The c o m p l e x n u m b e r
7(z) encodes the s a m e data as the or-
dered h y p e r p l a n e triple (ho, ha, h2) a s -
s o c i a t e d to z. I n p a r t i c u l a r ,
ffz) = h0~ ~ + h ~ 1 + h2~ ~,
and
2 1
h0 = y u + 2 p ,
1 1
ha = ~=(P - u) + ~ v,
1 1
h~ = ~-(p - u) - ~ v,
w h e r e 7(z) = u + i v a n d p = 7(0) i s
the s i z e o f S.
W e call ~-the (ordered) h y p e r p l a n e
t r i p l e f u n c t i o n o f S. In t h e p r e v i o u s
s e c t i o n o u r i n t e r e s t in h y p e r p l a n e
t r i p l e s w a s a d hoc; w e s t u d i e d t h e m be-
c a u s e , in t h e end, it p a i d to d o so. We
n o w s e e t h a t h y p e r p l a n e t r i p l e s arise
naturally via the Fourier transform.
T h e r e is a n a m a z i n g f o r m u l a count-
ing t h e n u m b e r o f lines c o n t a i n e d in a
s e t S.
Proposition 8. L e t S be a subset o f ~:d
that c o n t a i n s p p o i n t s a n d 1 lines. Then
p + 61: ~ Z ~(z),
z ~ F'.~
w h e r e "r i s the h y p e r p l a n e t r i p l e . f u n c -
t i o n o f S.
In [1], B i e r b r a u e r a n d E d e l u s e the
f o r m u l a a b o v e t o g e t h e r with s o m e
c l e v e r e s t i m a t e s o f IT3(z) ! to p r o v e t h e
~ THE MATHEMATICALINTELLIGENCER
F o u r i e r b o u n d of P r o p o s i t i o n 6. We re-
fer t h e r e a d e r to their p a p e r for m o r e
details. We n o w s u m m a r i z e the p r o o f
o f Edel, F e r r e t , Landjev, and S t o r m e [6]
t h a t a5 = 45.
P r o p o s i t i o n 9. A m a x i m a l 5-cap has
45 p o i n t s .
Proof. Figm'e 8 contains a 5-cap with 45
points, so w e only need to s h o w that
t h e r e is n o n e with 46 points. Suppose for
a c o n t r a d i c t i o n that C is a 5-cap with 46
points. By t h e Fourier analysis b o u n d of
P r o p o s i t i o n 6, if every hyperplane inter-
s e c t s C in at most 18 points, then C can
have at m o s t 45 points. Thus, there m u s t
b e a h y p e r p l a n e H intersecting C in 19
o r 20 points. Deleting a point of C n o t
on H p r o d u c e s a 5-cap with 45 points
s u c h t h a t H is a hyperplane intersecting
in 19 o r 20 points. However, in [6] it is
s h o w n that every 5-cap with 45 p o i n t s
h a s no h y p e r p l a n e s intersecting in 19 or
20 points. The p r o o f exploits an inge-
n i o u s identity in the equations for count-
ing m a r k e d hyperplanes, together with
an e x h a u s t i v e c o m p u t e r search. []
Solidity
In tiffs s e c t i o n we discuss w h a t is k n o w n
a b o u t high-dimensional m a x i m a l caps.
In [3], A. R o b e r t Calderbank and P e t e r
F i s h b u r n c r e a t e very large high-dimen-
sional c a p s via p r o d u c t constructions
b a s e d on large low-dimensional caps. As
a m e a s u r e o f the "largeness" o f a cap,
define the solidity of a d-cap C to be
and define the asymptotic solidity of
m a x i m a l c a p s to b e the s u p r e m u m o f
t h e s o l i d i t i e s of m a x i m a l caps,
Thus, a s y m p t o t i c solidity is at least the
solidity of a n y particular cap. Since
e v e r y d-cap has fewer than 3 d points,
the a s y m p t o t i c solidity is at m o s t 3. On
the o t h e r hand, the cap consisting o f all
2 d p o i n t s w i t h all c o m p o n e n t s 0 or 1
s h o w s t h a t t h e solidity is at least 2. The
c e n t r a l o p e n question is the following.
Q u e s t i o n . Is the a s y m p t o t i c solid-
ity less t h a n 3?
The definition o f a s y m p t o t i c solid-
ity l e a v e s o p e n the p o s s i b i l i t y t h a t for
s o m e l o w d t h e r e is a d-cap w i t h high
solidity, b u t for all larger d e v e r y d - c a p
h a s a s u b s t a n t i a l l y s m a l l e r solidity.
This w o u l d m a k e the n a m e " a s y m p -
t o t i c solidity" r a t h e r q u e s t i o n a b l e , b u t
t h e following p r o p o s i t i o n s h o w s t h a t
this n e v e r h a p p e n s .
P r o p o s i t i o n 10. A s y m p t o t i c s o l i d i t y
is the l i m i t as d ~ ~- o f the s o l i d i t y o f
m a x i m a l d-caps.
Proof. This w o u l d be a v e r y s h o r t p r o o f
if w e k n e w t h a t t h e solidity of m a x i m a l
c a p s (ra w a s an i n c r e a s i n g s e q u e n c e .
U n f o r t u n a t e l y , this is n o t k n o w n , so w e
will t a k e a m o r e r o u n d a b o u t a p p r o a c h .
We first n o t e t h a t given a d - c a p C, w e
c a n c o n s t r u c t a 2d-cap C' w i t h the
s a m e solidity. We do this b y t a k i n g the
p r o d u c t of C w i t h itself: e a c h p o i n t o f
C' h a s as its first d c o o r d i n a t e s a p o i n t
o f C, a n d as its last d c o o r d i n a t e s an-
o t h e r p o i n t o f C, so C ' , = C, 2. T h e n
G(C') = ~ = G(C). In fact w e c a n
a l s o a p p l y this c o n s t r u c t i o n to t a k e the
p r o d u c t o f a d l - c a p C1 a n d a d2-cap C2
to g e t a ( d l + d2)-cap C' with s o l i d i t y
o~C') = " ' ~ F o r e x a m p l e , tak-
ing t h e r e p e a t e d p r o d u c t o f a d - c a p
w i t h i t s e l f n t i m e s gives an ( n d ) - c a p
w i t h t h e s a m e solidity. So w e c a n re-
p l a c e s u p b y lira sup in the d e f i n i t i o n
o f a s y m p t o t i c solidity, j u s t i f y i n g the
" a s y m p t o t i c " in t h e name.
We n o w n o t e that this p r o d u c t
c o n s t r u c t i o n s h o w s t h a t the f u n c t i o n
f : N ~ N d e f i n e d by s e t t i n g f ( d ) to b e
t h e size aa of a m a x i m a l d - c a p satisfies
f(m + n) >-f(m)j(n).
T h e n F e k e t e ' s L e m m a (see, for e x a m -
p l e [20, L e m m a 11.6]) i m p l i e s t h a t
lim,~_~ f ( n ) u" exists. Since s o l i d i t y is
t h e lira s u p o f f ( n ) 1/'r~, this limit m u s t
e q u a l o-, c o m p l e t i n g the proof. []
C a l d e r b a n k a n d F i s b u r u u s e this
p r o d u c t c o n s t r u c t i o n to s h o w G >
2.210147. In [3], t h e y explicitly give t w o
6-caps, e a c h with 112 points. T h e y ex-
p l o i t t h e s e c a p s in a r e f i n e d v e r s i o n o f
t h e a b o v e p r o d u c t c o n s t r u c t i o n to get
a 13,500-cap with t h e r e q u i r e d solidity.
This r e s u l t h a s b e e n i m p r o v e d , with a
s i m p l e r cap, b y Yves Edel, w h o has
c o n s t r u c t e d a 62-cap w i t h s o l i d i t y
2.214781, a n d a 480-cap w i t h s o l i d i t y
2.21739 [5].
Projective Caps
A basic p r o p e r t y of a n affine SET game
is that each pair of cards is c o n t a i n e d
in a u n i q u e SET. Are t h e r e o t h e r SET-like
card g a m e s w i t h this p r o p e r t y ? Yes! In
fact, there is a n o n - a f f i n e SET-like game
with only s e v e n cards. C o n s i d e r the
Fano plane in Figure 12.
The seven points of the F a n o plane
are indicated b y the dots in the figure.
Each line of the F a n o plane consists ei-
ther of the three dots lying o n a line seg-
m e n t of the diagram, or the three dots
lying on the circle. In the F a n o plane, any
pair of points d e t e r m i n e s a unique line,
and every line has precisely three points.
We define the Fano SET game to be a
card game with one card for each point
of the F a n o plane, where three cards
form a SET if file c o r r e s p o n d i n g points of
the F a n o plane are collinear.
There is a n a t u r a l projective geo-
metric c o n s t r u c t i o n of the F a n o plane.
Given a v e c t o r s p a c e V = ~:d+1, thep~v-
jective space of V, pdFq, is a n object
tailored to e n c o d e the i n c i d e n c e struc-
ture of l i n e a r s u b s p a c e s of V. In par-
ticular, the e l e m e n t s of the s e t ~d~q are
j u s t the o n e - d i m e n s i o n a l s u b s p a c e s of
V. These are called the projective
points of ~:Dd~_q.Given two distinct one-
d i m e n s i o n a l s u b s p a c e s , there is a
unique t w o - d i m e n s i o n a l s u b s p a c e con-
taining them. Thus, if we call the two-
d i m e n s i o n a l s u b s p a c e s of V the pro-
jective lines, t h e n w e have the nice fact
that any t w o p r o j e c t i v e p o i n t s deter-
m i n e a u n i q u e p r o j e c t i v e line.
When q = 2, t h e n each projective
line c o n t a i n s e x a c t l y t h r e e projective
points. To see this, n o t i c e that since the
u n d e r l y i n g field is $2, a n y o n e - d i m e n -
sional s u b s p a c e c o n t a i n s exactly two
points: the zero vector, a n d the
n o n z e r o b a s i s vector. Thus, there is a
bijection b e t w e e n n o n z e r o v e c t o r s a n d
projective points. Let L be a two-di-
m e n s i o n a l s u b s p a c e of F d + 1 r e p r e s e n t -
ing a p r o j e c t i v e line, a n d let {e,f} be a
vector s p a c e b a s i s of L. T h e n L con-
Figure 12. The Fano p l a n e .
tains exactly four vectors: 0, e, f, a n d
e + f . The n o n z e r o v e c t o r s r e p r e s e n t
the three projective p o i n t s of L. Amaz-
ingly, this gives rise to the s a m e test for
collinearity as in the affine case:
The P r o j e c t i v e C o l l i n e a r i t y Rule:
Three non-zero vectors a, b, c E [[d+ 1
r e p r e s e n t collinear projective p o i n t s
if and only i f a + b + c = 0 .
The vector s p a c e ~:~ has eight vec-
tors, a n d so the projective s p a c e p2F2
has s e v e n projective points. In fact,
P~F2 is the F a n o plane. We define a
projective SET game of dimension d to
be a card game with o n e card for e a c h
projective point in paF2, w h e r e t h r e e
cards form a SET if the c o r r e s p o n d i n g
projective points are collinear. T h e n
the F a n o SET game is j u s t the projec-
tive SET game of d i m e n s i o n two.
H. Tracy Hall [8] has devised for
h i m s e l f a deck of cards for a p l a y a b l e
projective SET game of d i m e n s i o n five.
The key step of his c o n s t r u c t i o n is to
group the c o m p o n e n t s of a v e c t o r of ~ 6
into three pairs,
a = (Xl, x2, Yl, Y2, zl, z2)
= ((XlX2), (YlY2), (ZlZ2)),
a n d t h e n to interpret each pair as the
b i n a r y e x p a n s i o n of o n e of the i n t e g e r s
0,1,2, or 3. For example,
a = (1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0)
= ((10), (01), (00)) = (2, 1, 0).
To further encode the vector as a design
on a card, we associate a symbol to each
of the three integers 1, 2, or 3, a n d use
the b l a n k symbol for the integer 0. We
print three such symbols o n each card,
one for each coordinate, a n d distinguish
the symbols by printing t h e m in three
different fonts. In Figure 13 we do this
using different families of s y m b o l s for
the different coordinates: { 9 B, *}, {<,
=, >}, a n d {Z, ~, Q}. Hall has a m u c h
cuter way to do this using the charac-
ters from a popular children's game.
With respect to this m e t h o d of en-
coding vectors, the projective collinear-
ity rule has the following translation.
T h e P r o j e c t i v e SET Rule: T h r e e
cards are called a SET, if each f o n t
a p p e a r s in exactly o n e of the fol-
lowing three ways:
9 Not at all.
I'-II;<l
I*< R<
Q
Figure 13. Can you find all four projective SETS?
9 As the s a m e s y m b o l e x a c t l y
twice, a n d n o t as a n y o t h e r
symbol.
9 As all three s y m b o l s .
Hall reports teaching, a n d t h e n losing
at, this game to his nine-year-old niece.
Are there still other SET-like g a m e s be-
yond affine and projective SET? Yes a n d
no. A Steiner triple system is a set X to-
gether with a collection S of three-ele-
m e n t subsets of X, such that, given a n y
two elements x, y ~ X, there is a u n i q u e
triple {x, y, z} ~ S. Interpreting e l e m e n t s
of X as cards, and triples in S as SETS,
t h e n we obtain a SET-like game from a n y
Steiner triple system. The ~ e a n d pro-
jective SET card games are e x a m p l e s of
Steiner triple systems, b u t it t u r n s out
that there are m a n y more exotic Steiner
triple systems. Their study is a very rich
subject, a n d the interested r e a d e r should
look at the book of Charles C o l b o u m
and Alexander Rosa [4].
A n a t u r a l i n v a r i a n t a t t a c h e d to a n y
Steiner triple s y s t e m is its symmetry
group. This is d e f m e d i n p r e c i s e l y the
s a m e w a y we defined s y m m e t r y g r o u p s
of affine SET games, n a m e l y , as the per-
m u t a t i o n s of the p o i n t s of X t a k i n g
triples in S to triples in S. O n e w a y of
s t u d y i n g Steiner triple s y s t e m s is via
their s y m m e t r y groups. A n o t a b l e prop-
erty of the s y m m e t r y g r o u p s of affme
a n d projective SET g a m e s is t h a t t h e i r
s y m m e t r y groups are 2-transitive o n
cards; that is, there is a s y m m e t r y tak-
ing a n y o r d e r e d pair of c a r d s to a n y
o t h e r o r d e r e d pair of cards. I n p a r t i c u -
lar, this m e a n s that, u p to s y m m e t r y ,
there is only one type of SET. To cap-
ture this, let us deffme a n abstract SET
game to b e a n y S t e i n e r triple s y s t e m
w h e r e the s y m m e t r y g r o u p acts 2-tran-
sitively o n points. We h a v e the follow-
ing deep t h e o r e m classifying a b s t r a c t
SET games, first c o n j e c t u r e d i n 1960 b y
Marshall Hall, Jr. [9].
VOLUME 25, NUMBER 3, 2003 39
T h e o r e m 11. The only abstract SET
g a m e s are a f f i n e a n d p r o j e c t i v e SET
g a m e s , i n Fd a n d Pd~-2, respectively.
This r e s u l t is d u e to J e n n i f e r Key
a n d E r n e s t Shult [16], Hall [10], a n d
W i l l i a m K a n t o r [15]. Interestingly, t h e
p r o o f s use p a r t o f t h e c l a s s i f i c a t i o n o f
finite s i m p l e groups.
If w e actually play projective SET w e
w a n t to k n o w h o w m a n y c a r d s n e e d to
b e d e a l t to guarantee a SET. J u s t as in the
affine case, w e call a collection o f p o i n t s
in ~gF2 containing no t h r e e p o i n t s on a
p r o j e c t i v e line a cap. The p r o b l e m o f
finding m a x i m a l c a p s for p r o j e c t i v e SET
w a s solved in 1947 b y Raj C h a n d r a Bose.
In [2], he s h o w e d that the m a x i m a l c a p s
o f ~E:~d~:2 have 24 points. B o s e ' s i n t e r e s t in
this p r o b l e m certainly didn't s t e m from
SET, a s the game w a s n o t to b e i n v e n t e d
for a n o t h e r 27 years. Rather, he w a s
c o m i n g at it from quite a n o t h e r direc-
tion, namely, the t h e o r y o f error-cor-
recting codes, w h i c h is the s t u d y o f the
f l a w l e s s transnfission o f m e s s a g e s o v e r
n o i s y c o m m u n i c a t i o n lines. As d e t a i l e d
in t h e b o o k o f R a y m o n d Hill [14], t h e r e
is a c o r r e s p o n d e n c e b e t w e e n p r o j e c t i v e
c a p s in ~Ebd~=2 and families o f efficient
c o d e s . Specifically, if w e form t h e ma-
trix w h o s e c o l u m n s are v e c t o r s repre-
s e n t i n g the projective p o i n t s o f t h e cap,
t h e n t h e kernel o f this m a t r i x is a linear
c o d e with H a m m i n g weight four. The
m o r e p o i n t s the cap contains, t h e m o r e
"code-words" the c o r r e s p o n d i n g c o d e
has, a n d so this naturally m o t i v a t e s the
p r o b l e m o f finding m a x i m a l p r o j e c t i v e
caps. B o s e c o m p l e t e l y s o l v e d this p r o b -
l e m w h e n q = 2, but, as in the affine
case, things b e c o m e m u c h m o r e difficult
w h e n q = 3. We d e n o t e b y bd the size of
a m a x i m a l projective cap in PdF 3. The
k n o w n values o f bd are given in Table 3.
Table 3
d 1 2 3 4 5
bd 2 4 10 20 56
T h e sizes in d i m e n s i o n s 2 a n d 3 a r e d u e
t o B o s e [2], d i m e n s i o n 4 is d u e to Pel-
l e g r i n o [19], a n d d i m e n s i o n 5 is d u e to
Hill [11, 12]. We n o t e t h a t w e a l w a y s
h a v e a d <-- bd, s i n c e t h e r e is a c o p y o f
F d i n s i d e Pd~=3, SO P e l l e g r i n o ' s r e s u l t is
t h e first p r o o f t h a t a4 --< 20.
E v e n t h o u g h t h e r e is no a b s t r a c t SET
40 THE MATHEMATICALINTELLIGENCER
g a m e with c a r d s given b y p o i n t s of
PhF3, t h e r e is still s o m e i n t e r e s t i n g SET-
t h e o r y a s s o c i a t e d with the s t u d y of
m a x i m a l p r o j e c t i v e c a p s in this space.
In p a r t i c u l a r , the 45-point affine cap in
F i g u r e 8 w a s c o n s t r u c t e d b y deleting a
h y p e r p l a n e from t h e 56-point projec-
tive 5-cap given b y Hill in Figure 4 of
[13]. U n i q u e n e s s o f this affine c a p w a s
s h o w n in [6] to be a c o n s e q u e n c e of the
uniqueness o f the projective cap, which
in t u r n w a s d e m o n s t r a t e d by Hill in [12]
b y m e a n s of a code-theoretic argument.
Acknowledgments
We have b e e n fascinated with SET since
first s p e n d i n g many m a n y h o u r s playing
it w h e n w e s t a r t e d g r a d u a t e school to-
gether, and have h a d m a n y helpful con-
v e r s a t i o n s with o t h e r SET-enthusiasts.
We w o u l d never have s p e n t so m a n y
h o u r s thinking about the "SET-Problem"
w i t h o u t J o e Buhler's goading r e m a r k
t h a t it w a s shocking that t w o Berkeley
s t u d e n t s couldn't w o r k o u t the answer.
J o s h Levenberg h e l p e d t h e n by writing
o u r original brute-force program, before
w e c a m e up with a n o n - c o m p u t e r p r o o f
o f "20." Galen Huntington got us think-
ing along the right lines with the p r o o f
o f P r o p o s i t i o n 1. Thanks also to Michael
Kleber for m a n y interesting conversa-
tions on this topic, only a fraction of
w h i c h have o c c u r r e d during the writing
o f this article, and for informing us of
P r o p o s i t i o n 10. More r e c e n t l y Mike
Z a b r o c k i ' s c o m p u t e r d e m o n s t r a t i o n at
FPSAC 2001 r e i n s p i r e d us, a n d Sunny
F a w c e t t has b e e n invaluable with inte-
g e r p r o g r a m m i n g a s s i s t a n c e a n d other
ideas. Finally, we are i n d e b t e d to J o e
Buhler, J u e r g e n Bierbrauer, a n d Yves
E d e l for extensive c o m m e n t s on an ear-
lier draft o f this paper.
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Department of Mathematics, and Computer
Science, Saint Mary's College, Moraga, CA
94575, USA
e-mail address: bdavis@stmarys-ca.edu
Department of Mathematics, Stanford
University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
e-mail address: maclagan@math.stanford.edu