COORDINATISING PLANES OF PRIME POWER ORDER USING FINITE FIELDS

Abstract

We revisit the coordinatisation method for projective planes by considering the consequences of using finite fields to coordinatise projective planes of prime power order. This leads to some general restrictions on the form of the resulting planar ternary ring (PTR) when viewed as a trivariate polynomial over the field. We also consider how the Lenz–Barlotti type of the plane being coordinatised impacts the form of the PTR polynomial, thereby deriving further restrictions.