Related papers: Permutations of counters on a table

Let Sym_n denote the symmetric group of all permutations pi = a_1...a_n of {1,...,n}. An index i is a peak of pi if a_{i-1} < a_i > a_{i+1} and we let P(pi) be the set of peaks of pi. Given any set S of positive integers we define P(S;n) to…

Consider S_n, the symmetric group on n letters, and let maj pi denote the major index of a permutation pi in S_n. Given positive integers k,l and nonnegative integers i,j, define m_n^{k,l}(i,j) := number of pi in S_n such that maj pi = i…

Toral introduced so-called cooperative Parrondo games, in which there are N players (3 or more) arranged in a circle. At each turn one player is randomly chosen to play. He plays either game A or game B, depending on the strategy. Game A…

Zeckendorf proved that every positive integer $n$ can be written uniquely as the sum of non-adjacent Fibonacci numbers; a similar result, though with a different notion of a legal decomposition, holds for many other sequences. We use these…

We give a short proof for an explicit upper bound on the proportion of permutations of a given prime order $p$, acting on a finite set of given size $n$, which is sharp for certain $n$ and $p$. Namely, we prove that if $n\equiv k\pmod{p}$…

In a quaternion order of class number one, an element can be factored in multiple ways depending on the order of the factorization of its reduced norm. The fact that multiplication is not commutative causes an element to induce a…

In Combinatorial Game Theory, short game forms are defined recursively over all the positions the two players are allowed to move to. A form is decomposable if it can be expressed as a disjunctive sum of two forms with smaller birthday. If…

We study the impartial game PAP (``permutations avoiding patterns''), in which players take turns choosing patterns to avoid. We define a set of length $k$ patterns, $B_k$, and show that it is the unique minimal monotone-forcing subset of…

We bound the number of permutations with a fixed number $r$ of $321 \ominus p_0$ patterns by a constant times the number of permutations which avoid $321 \ominus p_0$. We use this new upper bound to show that the ordinary generating…

We prove that every Condorcet-consistent voting rule can be manipulated by a voter who completely reverses their preference ranking, assuming that there are at least 4 alternatives. This corrects an error and improves a result of [Sanver,…

A comply/constrain game or a game with a Muller twist is a game where the next player is allowed to place constraints on opponent's next move. We develop a closed form formula for the Grundy value of the single-pile subtraction game where…

Consider a game of permutation wordle in which a player attempts to guess a secret permutation of length $n$ in as few guesses as possible. In each round, the guessing player is told which indices of their guessed permutation are correct.…

Here, we present a variant of the sliding coins game. Two coins are placed on distinct squares of a semi-infinite linear board with squares numbered $0, 1, 2, dots, $. Two players take turns and move a coin to a lower unoccupied square.…

A Subtraction-Division game is a two player combinatorial game with three parameters: a set S, a set D, and a number n. The game starts at n, and is a race to say the number 1. Each player, on their turn, can either move the total to n-s…

We prove a conjecture dating back to a 1978 paper of D.R.\ Musser~\cite{musserirred}, namely that four random permutations in the symmetric group $\mathcal{S}_n$ generate a transitive subgroup with probability $p_n > \epsilon$ for some…

We use representation theory of the symmetric group S_n to prove Poisson limit theorems for the distribution of fixed points for three types of non-uniform permutations. First, we give results for the commutator of g and x where g and x are…

A permutation P on {1,..,N} is a_fast_forward_permutation_ if for each m the computational complexity of evaluating P^m(x)$ is small independently of m and x. Naor and Reingold constructed fast forward pseudorandom cycluses and involutions.…

Sampling permutations from S_n is a fundamental problem from probability theory. The nearest neighbor transposition chain \cal{M}}_{nn} is known to converge in time \Theta(n^3 \log n) in the uniform case and time \Theta(n^2) in the constant…

We study a random game in which two players in turn play a fixed number of moves. For each move, there are two possible choices. To each possible outcome of the game we assign a winner in an i.i.d. fashion with a fixed parameter p. In the…

A simple permutation is one which maps no proper non-singleton interval onto an interval. We consider the enumeration of simple permutations from several aspects. Our results include a straightforward relationship between the ordinary…