A Note on MDS Codes, <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-Arcs and Complete Designs

A generalized incidence matrix of a design over GF(q) is any matrix obtained from the (0, 1)-incidence matrix by replacing ones with nonzero elements from GF(q). The dimension d _q of a design D over GF(q) is defined as the minimum value of the q-rank of a generalized incidence matrix of D. It is proved that the dimension d _q of the complete design on n points having as blocks all w-subsets, is greater that or equal to n ? w + 1, and the equality d _q = n ? w + 1 holds if and only if there exists an n, n ? w + 1, w] MDS code over GF(q), or equivalently, an n-arc in PG(w ? 2, q).