The asymptotics of almost alternating permutations (Q696815)

The paper studies asymptotic enumeration of permutations, which are alternating except for a finite number of exceptions. Let \(\beta(l_1,l_2,l_3,\dots ,l_k)\) denote the number of permutations that consist of \(l_1\) ascents, \(l_2\) descents, \(l_3\) ascents, etc. The paper obtains the EGF for the sequence \(\beta(L, 1^{n-m-1})\), where \(L\) is a descent-ascent list of size \(m\). Using the EGF, an asymptotic formula is developed for \(\beta(L, 1^{n-m-1})\), and also for \(\beta(1^a,2,1^b)\) and \(\beta(L_1,1^a,L_2,1^b,L_3)\). All the asymptotics involve Euler numbers, which are in this notation \(\beta(1^{n-1})\).