The number of permutations with a given signature, and the expectations of their elements (Q1841934)

The signature of a permutation \(\pi_1,\dots, \pi_n\) of \(1,\dots, n\) is the sequence \(\kappa_1,\dots, \kappa_{n-1}\) where \(\kappa_i= 1\) if \(\pi_{i+1}> \pi_i\) and \(\kappa_i= 0\) if \(\pi_{i+1}< \pi_i\). A new approach, involving random number sequences, is used to obtain a formula for the number of permutations of length \(n\) with a given signature. This approach also gives, for each \(i\), the average value of \(\pi_i\) in the permutations of given signature.