On inversions and cycles in permutations (Q1097883)

Let i(\(\sigma)\) be the number of inversions of a permutation \(\sigma\) and c(\(\sigma)\) the number of cycles in \(\sigma\). The author studies the relationship between i(\(\sigma)\) and c(\(\sigma)\). He shows certain extremal cases of the values of i(\(\sigma)\) for fixed c(\(\sigma)\) and enumerates those permutations which achieve these extremal values. Some extensions and open problems are also presented.