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Does anyone knows a way to compute a list of all (p,q)-shuffles in mathematica?

For a definition of the shuffle permutations see for example http://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/shuffle

I'm dreaming of a function with p and q as arguments that gives me:

1.) The number of all (p,q)-shuffles.

2.) A list of the actual "shuffle" (p+q)-permutations

3.) The sign of each such permutation

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    $\begingroup$ Let's see if we can do better than this mathhelpforum.com/math-software/… $\endgroup$ – Dr. belisarius May 4 '12 at 4:24
  • $\begingroup$ Ok. Since this was asked before, I guess there is no such thing. $\endgroup$ – Mark Neuhaus May 4 '12 at 4:33
  • $\begingroup$ But it was not asked here :D $\endgroup$ – Dr. belisarius May 4 '12 at 4:34
  • $\begingroup$ Is there a package to work with general permutations? Then maybe I can use it as a starting point to write that function by myself. $\endgroup$ – Mark Neuhaus May 4 '12 at 4:47
  • $\begingroup$ Very painfully inefficient: With[{p = 4, q = 5}, Union[Join[Sort[Take[#, p]], Sort[Take[#, -q]]] & /@ Permutations[Range[p + q]]]] $\endgroup$ – J. M.'s ennui♦ May 4 '12 at 4:50
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1) The number of all (p,q) shuffles is

Binomial[p+q,p]

since when you chose the first p elements, the whole thing (and its order) is given.

2)The actual shuffles are given by: (See JM's comment below*)

With[{x = Range@#1}, {#, Complement[x, #]} & /@ Subsets[x, {#2}]] &[p + q, p]

Example:

p = 3; q = 2;
With[{x = Range@#1}, {#, Complement[x, #]} & /@ Subsets[x, {#2}]] &[p + q, p]

(*
->
{{{1, 2, 3}, {4, 5}}, {{1, 2, 4}, {3, 5}}, {{1, 2, 5}, {3, 4}}, {{1, 3, 4}, {2, 5}}, 
 {{1, 3, 5}, {2, 4}}, {{1, 4, 5}, {2, 3}}, {{2, 3, 4}, {1, 5}}, {{2, 3, 5}, {1, 4}}, 
 {{2, 4, 5}, {1, 3}}, {{3, 4, 5}, {1, 2}}}

3) The sign of each permutation (for the above shuffles) is given by:

Signature/@ With[{x=Range@#1}, Join[#, Complement[x, #]] & /@ Subsets[x, {#2}]] &[p+q,p]

Example:

p = 3; q = 2;
Signature/@ With[{x=Range@#1}, Join[#, Complement[x, #]] & /@ Subsets[x, {#2}]] &[p+q,p]
(*
-> {1, -1, 1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1}
*)
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  • $\begingroup$ mmm looking again ... all those p+q looks nasty. Lets see if I can improve $\endgroup$ – Dr. belisarius May 4 '12 at 5:00
  • $\begingroup$ Signature[] is built-in; no need for an auxiliary package... $\endgroup$ – J. M.'s ennui♦ May 4 '12 at 5:01
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    $\begingroup$ @J.M. Thanks. I keep using Combinatorica ... old vice. Editing. $\endgroup$ – Dr. belisarius May 4 '12 at 5:02
  • $\begingroup$ On that note: it might be a bit better if you don't generate Range[p + q] more than once: With[{pq = Range[p + q]}, Join[#, Complement[pq, #]] & /@ Subsets[pq, {p}]]. $\endgroup$ – J. M.'s ennui♦ May 4 '12 at 5:09
  • $\begingroup$ @J.M. yep. I'm trying to keep it as a one liner function of p,q $\endgroup$ – Dr. belisarius May 4 '12 at 5:11

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