Unfair permutations

Eur J Comb. 2011 Nov;32(8):1282-1298. doi: 10.1016/j.ejc.2011.04.002.

Abstract

We study unfair permutations, which are generated by letting [Formula: see text] players draw numbers and assuming that player [Formula: see text] draws [Formula: see text] times from the unit interval and records her largest value. This model is natural in the context of partitions: the score of the [Formula: see text]th player corresponds to the multiplicity of the summand [Formula: see text] in a random partition, with the roles of minimum and maximum interchanged. We study the distribution of several parameters, namely the position of player [Formula: see text], the number of inversions, and the number of ascents. To perform some of the heavy computations, we use the computer algebra package Sigma.