Cycle Lengths in a Permutation are Typically Poisson
Andrew Granville
Abstract
Open-access reader
Andrew Granville
Abstract
Open-access reader
The set of cycle lengths of almost all permutations in $S_n$ are "Poisson distributed": we show that this remains true even when we restrict the number of cycles in the permutation. The formulas we develop allow us to also show that almost all permutations with a given number of cycles have a certain "normal order" (in the spirit of the Erdős-Turán theorem). Our results were inspired by analogous questions about the size of the prime divisors of "typical" integers.
OpenAlex reports 22 citations for this work. Citation counts describe recorded attention and do not establish research quality.
A contribution statement is not available in the OpenAlex record.
Method details are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.
Findings are not separately available in the OpenAlex metadata.
Limitations are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.
Application details are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.
The set of cycle lengths of almost all permutations in $S_n$ are "Poisson distributed": we show that this remains true even when we restrict the number of cycles in the permutation. The formulas we develop allow us to also show that almost all permutations with a given number of cycles have a certain "normal order" (in the spirit of the Erdős-Turán theorem). Our results were inspired by analogous questions about the size of the prime divisors of "typical" integers.
Key concepts: Mathematics, Permutation (music), Combinatorics, Poisson distribution, Set (abstract data type), Order (exchange), Parity of a permutation, Prime (order theory)