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Research notes on every problem, and a library of the papers behind them. Built from the open erdos repository.

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Claim. Theorem 1 of Bruck and Ryser's paper states that no finite projective plane of order NN exists when N≡1N\equiv1 or 2(mod4)2\pmod 4 and the squarefree part of NN has a prime factor p≡3(mod4)p\equiv3\pmod 4; equivalently, a plane of order N≡1,2(mod4)N\equiv1,2\pmod4 exists only if NN is a sum of two integer squares. The proof turns a plane of order NN into a 00-11 incidence matrix AA of order N2+N+1N^2+N+1 with AAT=ATA=BAA^{T}=A^{T}A=B, where BB has N+1N+1 on the diagonal and 11 elsewhere, and applies the Hasse–Minkowski theory of rational equivalence of quadratic forms to BB. For Problem 723 the theorem gives the answer yes for every excluded order: 66, 1414, 2121, 2222, 3030 and every further N≡1,2(mod4)N\equiv1,2\pmod4 that is not a sum of two squares has no plane, so none of these orders is a counterexample. The site records the theorem as the condition that such nn must be a sum of two squares and notes that it rules out n=6n=6 and n=14n=14.

Covers. Every order n≡1n\equiv1 or 2(mod4)2\pmod4 that is not a sum of two squares: no plane of such an order exists, so the problem's implication holds for those nn. It says nothing about the other orders that are not prime powers; the smallest of them, n=10n=10, is excluded by Lam, Thiel and Swiercz's search, and n=12n=12 is the first order the problem leaves undecided.

Acceptance. Refereed: Canad. J. Math. 1 (1949), no. 1, 88–93; the issue is dated February 1949, and the page is dated to the first day of that month. The site's curator records the theorem under [BrRy49] while labeling the problem FALSIFIABLE, which credits the partial result without settling the problem, so the page lists no reviewed evidence. The library card records the paper's theorems; the proof has not been reconstructed or independently reviewed in this corpus.