1,2

Related to sequence A000085 since it can be shown that sequence A000085 represents the number of permutations (on n letters) that have only cycles of length 2 or less. Letting b(i) denote the i-th term of the sequence A000085, we obtain a(n)=sum(binomial(n,3*j)*(3*j)!*(1/3)^j*b(n-3*j)/j!,j=0..floor(n/3))

Dennis P. Walsh, The number of permutations with only small cycles, preprint.

Derivation of the sequence

a(n)=sum(binomial((n, 3 * j) * (3 * j)! * (1/3)^j/j! * sum(binomial(n-3 * j, 2 * k) * (2 * k)! * (1/2)^k/k!, k=0..floor((n-3 * j)/2)), j=0..floor(n/3)))

E.g.f.: exp( x + (x^2)/2 + (x^3)/3 ). Replacing 3 by "length k or less" in the definition of the sequence the E.g.f. is exp( x + (x^2)/2 + ... + (x^k)/k ). - Sharon Sela (sharonsela(AT)hotmail.com), May 16 2002

For example, a(4)=18 since there are 6 permutations with cycles of length 4 to exclude from the 24 permutations on 4 letters, namely (1 2 3 4), (1 2 4 3), (1 3 2 4), (1 3 4 2), (1 4 2 3) and (1 4 3 2).

Cf. A000085, A070945-A070947.

Sequence in context: A108066 A052863 A037128 this_sequence A053496 A079577 A006674

Adjacent sequences: A057690 A057691 A057692 this_sequence A057694 A057695 A057696

nonn

Dennis P. Walsh (dwalsh(AT)mtsu.edu), Oct 20 2000