ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the general notion of an orthogonal array as a combinatorial generalization of “dual codes” (traditionally one speaks of codes if the minimum distance is the important parameter, of orthogonal arrays if the strength is the center of interest). Most prominent among the applications of error-correcting codes is the transmission of messages via noisy channels. From this point of view the minimum distance is the most important parameter. In the linear case the duality theorem leads to a different approach to codes and to a different type of application. Orthogonal arrays are interpreted from a probabilistic point of view. Its rows are elements of a probability space, and each column describes a random variable with values in the set of entries.
