On permutations of wires and states (Q1064313)

We characterize a permutation as a sequence of wire-cycle periods and a sequence of state-cycle periods. These sequences are called a wire- sequence and a state-sequence, respectively. A relation between wire- cycles and state-cycles is discussed and some combinatorial problems on cycle periods of permutations are solved. An efficient method for constructing the state-sequence corresponding to a given wire-sequence is also described.