That is actually not related, but the beginning of an entirely different field of mathematics.  Design theory is the study of mathematical objects called <i>combinatorial designs</i>[1], which are basically fancy ways of partitioning finite sets into subsets with a pre-specified structure.  The thing you linked to is a specific instance that shows the existence of designs in a few specific cases.<p>While Kirkman essentially posed the first design theory question in the 1850&#x27;s, both the authors of one of the standard textbooks[2] in the field are still alive and (IIRC) still working today!<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Combinatorial_design" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Combinatorial_design</a> .  Incidentally, the field is called &quot;design theory,&quot; but it&#x27;s not a great search term outside of MathSciNet.<p>[2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Design-Edition-Discrete-Mathematics-Applications&#x2F;dp&#x2F;1420082965" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Design-Edition-Discrete-Mathematics-Ap...</a>