Block length

The block length n

The block length${\displaystyle n}$ of a block code is the number of symbols in a block. Hence, the elements ${\displaystyle c}$ of ${\displaystyle \Sigma ^{n}}$ are strings of length ${\displaystyle n}$ and correspond to blocks that may be received by the receiver. Hence they are also called received words. If ${\displaystyle c=C(m)}$ for some message ${\displaystyle m}$, then ${\displaystyle c}$ is called the codeword of ${\displaystyle m}$.