Classifying descents according to parity (Q2385102)

The pair \(\pi_{i}\pi_{i+1}\) is called a descent of the permutation \(\pi=\pi_1\pi_2\ldots\pi_n\) if \(\pi_i>\pi_{i+1}\). The authors study the distribution of descents over \(S_n\) depending on the parity of either \(\pi_i\) or \(\pi_{i+1}\). Using certain differential operators (and trivial symmetries between permutations) they provide explicit formulas for the number of permutations in \(S_n\) having exactly \(k\) descents which begin/end with an even/odd number.