A difference set is a set of
elements of a group
of group
order
such that the differences
with
contain every nonzero element
of
exactly
times. It is then called an
-difference set in
and has difference set
order
.
A difference set with
is called a planar difference set. The quadratic residues in the finite
field
form a difference set. If there is a difference set of size
in a group
, then
must be a multiple of
, where
is a binomial coefficient.
Gordon maintains an index of known difference sets.