Related papers: The Average Number of Block Interchanges Needed to…

This paper gives a straightforward self-contained proof of the formula for the variance of the number of comparisons used by the Quicksort sorting algorithm when pivots are chosen uniformly at random. The result has been known for some time…

Pop-stacks are variants of stacks that were introduced by Avis and Newborn in 1981. Coincidentally, a 1982 result of Unger implies that every permutation of length n can be sorted by n-1 passes through a deterministic pop-stack. We give a…

We survey the known results about simple permutations. In particular, we present a number of recent enumerative and structural results pertaining to simple permutations, and show how simple permutations play an important role in the study…

This paper explores the partition properties of roller coaster permutations, a class of permutations characterized by maximizing the number of alternating runs in all subsequences. We establish a connection between the structure of these…

It is shown that the maximum number of patterns that can occur in a permutation of length $n$ is asymptotically $2^n$. This significantly improves a previous result of Coleman.

The expected number of pairwise comparisons needed to learn a partial order on n elements is shown to be at least n*n/4-o(n*n), and an algorithm is given that needs only n*n/4+o(n*n) comparisons on average. In addition, the optimal strategy…

Let $\pi_n$ be a uniformly chosen random permutation on $[n]$. Using an analysis of the probability that two overlapping consecutive $k$-permutations are order isomorphic, we show that the expected number of distinct consecutive patterns in…

Motivated by charge balancing constraints for rank modulation schemes, we introduce the notion of balanced permutations and derive the capacity of balanced permutation codes. We also describe simple interleaving methods for permutation code…

We study a family of sorting match puzzles on grids, which we call permutation match puzzles. In this puzzle, each row and column of a $n \times n$ grid is labeled with an ordering constraint -- ascending (A) or descending (D) -- and the…

Let $\alpha(n)$ denote the number of perfect square permutations in the symmetric group $S_n$. The conjecture $\alpha(2n+1) = (2n+1) \alpha(2n)$, provided by Stanley[4], was proved by Blum[1] using a generating function. This paper presents…

In this article we consider the cycle structure of compositions of pairs of involutions in the symmetric group S_n chosen uniformly at random. These can be modeled as modified 2-regular graphs, giving rise to exponential generating…

Let $k$ be a nonnegative integer, and let $\alpha$ and $\beta$ be two permutations of $n$ symbols. We say that $\alpha$ and $\beta$ $k$-commute if $H(\alpha\beta, \beta\alpha)=k$, where $H$ denotes the Hamming metric between permutations.…

The problem of determining which permutations can be sorted using certain switchyard networks dates back to Knuth in 1968. In this work, we are interested in permutations which are sortable on a double-ended queue (called a deque), or on…

Given an STS(v), we ask if there is a permutation of the points of the design such that no $\ell$ consecutive points in this permutation contain a block of the design. Results are obtained in the cases $\ell = 3,4$.

Defant and Zheng introduced a consecutive-pattern-avoiding stack sort map $SC_{\sigma}$, where the stack must avoid a consecutive pattern $\sigma$. Seidel and Sun disproved a conjecture in Defant and Zheng's paper about the maximum…

Language learning is thought to be a highly complex process. One of the hurdles in learning a language is to learn the rules of syntax of the language. Rules of syntax are often ordered in that before one rule can applied one must apply…

We introduce a sorting machine consisting of $k+1$ stacks in series: the first $k$ stacks can only contain elements in decreasing order from top to bottom, while the last one has the opposite restriction. This device generalizes \cite{SM},…

We present a simple formula for the expected number of inversions in a permutation of size $n$ obtained by applying $t$ random (not necessarily adjacent) transpositions to the identity permutation. More general, for any finite irreducible…

Given a permutation statistic $s : S_n \to \mathbb{R}$, define the mean statistic $\bar{s}$ as the statistic which computes the mean of $s$ over conjugacy classes. We describe a way to calculate the expected value of $s$ on a product of $t$…

Any permutation polynomial is an $ n $-cycle permutation. When $n$ is a specific small positive integer, one can obtain efficient permutations, such as involutions, triple-cycle permutations and quadruple-cycle permutations. These…