•A linear algebraic structure
–Denoted by (N, K, D)
•N : length, K : dimension, D : minimum distance
–G : K by N generator matrix
–H : (N-K) by N parity check matrix
•G‧HT = 0
–Binary K tuple m can be encoded to an N bit codewordc = m‧G
–Error vector e added to the codeword c results in avector r = c + e
–If the Hamming weight of e is less than or equal to t =(D-1)/2 , r can be decoded into c based on thesyndrome vector s = r‧HT