Related papers: The variance of the Stirling cycle numbers

Given positive integers $n$ and $m$, let $p_n(m)$ be the probability that a uniform random permutation of $[n]$ has order exactly $m$. We show that, as $n \to \infty$, the maximum of $p_n(m)$ over all $m$ is asymptotic to $1/n$, the…

We consider sequences of polynomials that satisfy differential-difference recurrences. Polynomials satisfying such recurrences frequently appear as generating polynomials of integer valued random variables that are of interest in discrete…

In this paper, we first present combinatorial proofs of a kind of expansions of the Eulerian polynomials of types A and B, and then we introduce Stirling permutations of the second kind. In particular, we count Stirling permutations of the…

We prove a number of results, new and old, about the cycle type of a random permutation on S_n. Underlying our analysis is the idea that the number of cycles of size k is roughly Poisson distributed with parameter 1/k. In particular, we…

We prove a conjecture by Shannon Starr regarding the asymptotics for the number of tuples of commuting permutations with given number of joint orbits. These numbers generalize unsigned Stirling numbers of the first kind which count how many…

Consider n unit intervals, say [1,2], [3,4], ..., [2n-1,2n]. Identify their endpoints in pairs at random, with all (2n-1)!! = (2n-1) (2n-3) ... 3 1 pairings being equally likely. The result is a collection of cycles of various lengths, and…

Stirling permutations are parking functions, and we investigate two parking function statistics in the context of these objects: lucky cars and displacement. Among our results, we consider two extreme cases: extremely lucky Stirling…

We use an interesting result of probabilistic flavor concerning the product of two permutations consisting of one cycle each to find an explicit formula for the average number of block interchanges needed to sort a permutation of length…

For a permutation $\pi$, let $S_{n}(\pi)$ be the number of permutations on $n$ letters avoiding $\pi$. Marcus and Tardos proved the celebrated Stanley-Wilf conjecture that $L(\pi)= \lim_{n \to \infty} S_n(\pi)^{1/n}$ exists and is finite.…

Let $\gamma_n$ be the permutation on $n$ symbols defined by $\gamma_n = (1\ 2\...\ n)$. We are interested in an enumerative problem on colored permutations, that is permutations $\beta$ of $n$ in which the numbers from 1 to $n$ are colored…

We study cycle counts in permutations of $1,\dots,n$ drawn at random according to the Mallows distribution. Under this distribution, each permutation $\pi \in S_n$ is selected with probability proportional to $q^{\text{inv}(\pi)}$, where…

We study the generating function for the number of permutations on n letters containing exactly $r\gs0$ occurences of 132. It is shown that finding this function for a given r amounts to a routine check of all permutations in $S_{2r}$.

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…

We study the generating function for the number of even (or odd) permutations on n letters containing exactly $r\gs0$ occurrences of 132. It is shown that finding this function for a given r amounts to a routine check of all permutations in…

We examine the number of cycles of length k in a permutation, as a function on the symmetric group. We write it explicitly as a combination of characters of irreducible representations. This allows to study formation of long cycles in the…

Let $n$ and $k$ be positive integers. We denote by $v_2(n)$ the 2-adic valuation of $n$. The Stirling numbers of the first kind, denoted by $s(n,k)$, counts the number of permutations of $n$ elements with $k$ disjoint cycles. In recent…

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…

We study the distribution of cycle lengths in models of nonuniform random permutations with cycle weights. We identify several regimes. Depending on the weights, the length of typical cycles grows like the total number $n$ of elements, or a…

Circular permutations on {1,2,...,n} that avoid a given pattern correspond to ordinary (linear) permutations that end with n and avoid all cyclic rotations of the pattern. Three letter patterns are all but unavoidable in circular…

We prove bijectively that the total number of cycles of all even permutations of $[n]=\{1,2,...,n\}$ and the total number of cycles of all odd permutations of $[n]$ differ by $(-1)^n(n-2)!$, which was stated as an open problem by Mikl\'{o}s…