Counting Fixed-Length Permutation Patterns

Abstract

We consider the problem of packing fixed-length patterns into a permutation, and develop a connection between the number of large patterns and the number of bonds in a permutation. Improving upon a result of Kaplansky and Wolfowitz, we obtain exact values for the expectation and variance for the number of large patterns in a random permutation. Finally, we are able to generalize the idea of bonds to obtain results on fixed-length patterns of any size, and present a construction that maximizes the number of distinct large patterns.