Related papers: Passing through a stack $k$ times

Let $s$ denote West's stack-sorting map. A permutation is called $t-\textit{sorted}$ if it is of the form $s^t(\mu)$ for some permutation $\mu$. We prove that the maximum number of descents that a $t$-sorted permutation of length $n$ can…

We consider the problem of determining the maximum number of moves required to sort a permutation of $[n]$ using cut-and-paste operations, in which a segment is cut out and then pasted into the remaining string, possibly reversed. We give…

We show that for any permutation $\pi$ there exists an integer $k_{\pi}$ such that every permutation avoiding $\pi$ as a pattern is a product of at most $k_{\pi}$ separable permutations. In other words, every strict class $\mathcal C$ of…

A consecutive pattern in a permutation $\pi$ is another permutation $\sigma$ determined by the relative order of a subsequence of contiguous entries of $\pi$. Traditional notions such as descents, runs and peaks can be viewed as particular…

We use a method for determining the number of preimages of any permutation under the stack-sorting map in order to obtain recursive upper bounds for the numbers $W_t(n)$ and $W_t(n,k)$ of $t$-stack sortable permutations of length $n$ and…

Flip-sort is a natural sorting procedure which raises fascinating combinatorial questions. It finds its roots in the seminal work of Knuth on stack-based sorting algorithms and leads to many links with permutation patterns. We present…

A permutation is $k$-coverable if it can be partitioned into $k$ monotone subsequences. Barber conjectured that, for any given permutation, if every subsequence of length $k+2 \choose 2$ is $k$-coverable then the permutation itself is…

A permutation is so-called two stack sortable if it (i) avoids the (scattered) pattern 2-3-4-1, and (ii) contains a 3-2-4-1 pattern only as part of a 3-5-2-4-1 pattern. Here we show that the permutations on [n] satisfying condition (ii)…

Pancake flipping, a famous open problem in computer science, can be formalised as the problem of sorting a permutation of positive integers using as few prefix reversals as possible. In that context, a prefix reversal of length k reverses…

Using existing classification results for the 7- and 8-cycles in the pancake graph, we determine the number of permutations that require 4 pancake flips (prefix reversals) to be sorted. A similar characterization of the 8-cycles in the…

A permutation $\pi$ is said to be {\em Dumont permutations of the first kind} if each even integer in $\pi$ must be followed by a smaller integer, and each odd integer is either followed by a larger integer or is the last element of $\pi$…

Drawing on a problem posed by Hertzsprung in 1887, we say that a given permutation $\pi\in\mathcal{S}_n$ contains the Hertzsprung pattern $\sigma\in\mathcal{S}_k$ if there is factor $\pi(d+1)\pi(d+2)\cdots\pi(d+k)$ of $\pi$ such that…

There are several approaches to study occurrences of consecutive patterns in permutations such as the inclusion-exclusion method, the tree representations of permutations, the spectral approach and others. We propose yet another approach to…

We study a sorting machine consisting of two stacks in series where the first stack has the added restriction such that entries in the stack must be in decreasing order from top to bottom. We give the basis of the class of permutations that…

There is a natural bijection between permutations obtainable using a stack (those avoiding the pattern 312) and permutations obtainable using a queue (those avoiding 321). This bijection is equivalent to one described by Simion and Schmidt…

We prove that the set of permutations sorted by a stack of depth $t \geq 3$ and an infinite stack in series has infinite basis, by constructing an infinite antichain. This answers an open question on identifying the point at which, in a…

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…

Recall that an excedance of a permutation $\pi$ is any position $i$ such that $\pi_i > i$. Inspired by the work of Hopkins, McConville and Propp (Elec. J. Comb., 2017) on sorting using toppling, we say that a permutation is toppleable if it…

Let $\pi=(\pi_1,\pi_2,\hdots,\pi_n)$ be permutation of the elements $1,2,\hdots,n. $ Positive integer $k\leq2^{n-1}$ we call index of $\pi,$ if in its binary notation as $n$-digital binary number, the 1's correspond to the ascent points. We…

In the context of the genome rearrangement problem, we analyze two well known models, namely the block transposition and the prefix block transposition models, by exploiting the connection with the notion of permutation pattern. More…