Balanced tableaux (Q1821102)

A result of \textit{R. P. Stanley} [Eur. J. Comb. 5, 359-372 (1984; Zbl 0587.20002)] states that the number of maximal chains in the weak ordering of the symmetric group on n letters (i.e. the ordering obtained by transpositions of adjacent elements) is equal to the number of standard Young tableaux of shape \(\lambda =\{n-1,n-2,...,2,1\}\). The authors here give a combinatorial and insightful proof of this identity by demonstrating a natural correspondence between maximal chains and what they define as balanced tableaux of shape \(\lambda\). A tableau is balanced if for each hook in the tableau the number of elements lying in or below the corner is equal to the number of entries in the hook whose value is less than or equal to the value of the corner entry. The authors finish the proof by giving a bijection between standard Young tableaux of shape \(\lambda\) and balanced tableaux of shape \(\lambda\).