Inversions of Permutations in Symmetric, Alternating, and Dihedral Groups 
Dexter Jane L. Indong and Gilbert R. Peralta 
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science 
University of the Philippines Baguio 
Governor Pack Road
Baguio City 2600 
Philippines 
Abstract:
We use two methods to obtain a formula relating the total number of
inversions of all permutations and the corresponding order of
symmetric, alternating, and dihedral groups. First, we define an
equivalence relation on the symmetric group Sn and
consider each element in each equivalence class as a permutation of a
proper subset of {1,2, ... , n}. Second, we look at certain
properties of a backward permutation, a permutation obtained by
reversing the row images of a given permutation.  Lastly, we employ
the first method to obtain a recursive formula corresponding to the
number of permutations with k inversions.
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(Concerned with sequences
A001809 and
A006002.)
Received May 11 2008;
revised version received September 29 2008.
Published in Journal of Integer Sequences, October 4 2008.
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