Re: orders of permutations

From: John Creighton (JohnCreighton__at_hotmail.com)
Date: 06/11/04 

Date: 11 Jun 2004 14:19:21 -0700

The order of a permutation is the minimum number of times you can
apply the permutation before the permutation is an identity. I believe
in symmetry group four (all permutations of (1,2,3,4) ) the largest
order is three. I wonder if n-1 works. Or maybe the answer is in terms
of a factorial.

blitzjn@hotmail.com (john) wrote in message news:<nkuhhpi3l8td@legacy>...
> Hello,
>
> Well, I am a student in a computer math class. My teacher totally
> fell
> behind on schedule and ended up assigning us a programming assignment
> during finals week. Therefore, I cannot consult him for questions.
> Well,
> There are two parts to the problem. I have completed part 1, which is
> creating a program that lists all permutations of 1,2,..,n in such a
> way
> that consecutive permutations differ by a single transposition using
> the
> Johsnon-Trotter algorithm. However, there is a second part to the
> question
> which I think he meant to make trivial but I am not too familiar with
> the
> terms and logic behind his question so I am confused... It states:
>
> "Using the program you wrote, find the largest order that a
> permutation
> of 1,2,3,...,n can have. Run it for as large a value of n as you can
> and
> tabulate the largest possible orders as a function of n."
>
> Any and all feedback/insight/help would be greatly appreciated!
> Thanks!
>
> - John