• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 06:37
CET 12:37
KST 20:37
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info3herO wins SC2 All-Star Invitational13SC2 All-Star Invitational: Tournament Preview5RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview8RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0
Community News
Weekly Cups (Jan 12-18): herO, MaxPax, Solar win0BSL Season 2025 - Full Overview and Conclusion8Weekly Cups (Jan 5-11): Clem wins big offline, Trigger upsets4$21,000 Rongyi Cup Season 3 announced (Jan 22-Feb 7)25Weekly Cups (Dec 29-Jan 4): Protoss rolls, 2v2 returns7
StarCraft 2
General
herO wins SC2 All-Star Invitational PhD study /w SC2 - help with a survey! Oliveira Would Have Returned If EWC Continued StarCraft 2 not at the Esports World Cup 2026 [Short Story] The Last GSL
Tourneys
$21,000 Rongyi Cup Season 3 announced (Jan 22-Feb 7) OSC Season 13 World Championship $70 Prize Pool Ladder Legends Academy Weekly Open! SC2 All-Star Invitational: Jan 17-18 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
Simple Questions Simple Answers
Custom Maps
[A] Starcraft Sound Mod
External Content
Mutation # 510 Safety Violation Mutation # 509 Doomsday Report Mutation # 508 Violent Night Mutation # 507 Well Trained
Brood War
General
Which foreign pros are considered the best? [ASL21] Potential Map Candidates Gypsy to Korea BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Fantasy's Q&A video
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues Azhi's Colosseum - Season 2 Small VOD Thread 2.0 [BSL21] Non-Korean Championship - Starts Jan 10
Strategy
Current Meta Simple Questions, Simple Answers Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2 Game Theory for Starcraft
Other Games
General Games
Beyond All Reason Nintendo Switch Thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Awesome Games Done Quick 2026!
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread NASA and the Private Sector
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club! The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
How Esports Advertising Shap…
TrAiDoS
My 2025 Magic: The Gathering…
DARKING
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
How do archons sleep?
8882
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1604 users

What is a Baxter Permutation?

Blogs > Geovu
Post a Reply
Geovu
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
Estonia1344 Posts
April 27 2011 01:33 GMT
#1
In a recent Day[9] Daily (292), Sean mentions something about a his thesis. From out his lips come the word "Baxter Permutation". Being the good netizen I am I instantly google it as I have never heard of such a thing before. Unfortunately there is no Wikipedia article, so I am basically boned in terms of understanding wtf this is.

Here is the text you find from the first link if you google it ( http://arxiv.org/abs/0805.4180 ) :

Abstract: We present a simple bijection between Baxter permutations of size $n$ and plane bipolar orientations with n edges. This bijection translates several classical parameters of permutations (number of ascents, right-to-left maxima, left-to-right minima...) into natural parameters of plane bipolar orientations (number of vertices, degree of the sink, degree of the source...), and has remarkable symmetry properties. By specializing it to Baxter permutations avoiding the pattern 2413, we obtain a bijection with non-separable planar maps. A further specialization yields a bijection between permutations avoiding 2413 and 3142 and series-parallel maps.


...


...






...


Can someone please translate this into English please? Clearly the person who wrote that paragraph is much smarter than me because that piece of text has a higher ratio of (Bullshit words I can't understand) to (Real words that I understand) than if I were to read something in French or German.

Alternatively if no one knows what a Baxter Permutation, at least tell me what it is used for and what field of science it is used in, so I can know to stay the fuck away from that field when I get into university.

Oracle
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Canada411 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-27 01:41:59
April 27 2011 01:40 GMT
#2
bijection is a one-to-one and onto mapping from set a to set b
permutation is amount of ways re-arranging a set of objects
edges are lines connecting vertices in graph theory
vertices are nodes

i dont know what a baxter permutation is, but that passage is most likely extremal graph theory


(the article does in no way explain what a baxter permutation is btw, but is most likely a subset of permutations)
Redmark
Profile Joined March 2010
Canada2129 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-27 01:40:51
April 27 2011 01:40 GMT
#3
I don't actually know much math but that looks like discrete mathematics. Graphs and sets and such.
Really there's a lot of stuff in every field that looks really esoteric to laymen. I can read something about theology and wtf for hours.
d3_crescentia
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States4054 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-27 01:46:23
April 27 2011 01:42 GMT
#4
You might want to check out his undergrad senior thesis in math here:

http://www.math.hmc.edu/seniorthesis/archives/2008/splott/splott-2008-thesis.pdf
once, not long ago, there was a moon here
Kon-Tiki
Profile Joined February 2011
United States402 Posts
April 27 2011 01:48 GMT
#5
On April 27 2011 10:42 d3_crescentia wrote:
You might want to check out his undergrad senior thesis in math here:

http://www.math.hmc.edu/seniorthesis/archives/2008/splott/splott-2008-thesis.pdf


The best part of this is that the url mashed "S. Plott" to "splott", which is an awesome word.
I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
Jayme
Profile Blog Joined February 2009
United States5866 Posts
April 27 2011 01:49 GMT
#6
It's abstract mathematics.

Don't touch that field unless you really love math because it will mind fuck you.
Python is garbage, number 1 advocate of getting rid of it.
munchmunch
Profile Joined October 2010
Canada789 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-27 06:10:26
April 27 2011 02:09 GMT
#7
It's actually not hard to understand. There are several ways to think of permutations, but in this case you can think of a permutation as a list of numbers from 1 to n, with each number occurring exactly once.

For example, when n=3 there are 6 permutations:
1 2 3
1 3 2
2 1 3
2 3 1
3 1 2
3 2 1

Now, what is a Baxter permutation? Basically it is a permutation that avoids a certain pattern. So if you look at the list of numbers and see

... a ... b c ... d ...

such that c < a < d < b then the permutation is not Baxter. (Note that there can be numbers in between a and b and between c and d, but b and c must be adjacent). The other pattern to be avoided is b < d < c < a.

As to why they are useful, I can't say without more reading.

Examples:

2 4 1 3 and
4 1 3 2

are NOT Baxter permutations, but all other permutations with length 4 are Baxter permutations.

Disclaimer: could easily be a mistake here, since I haven't encountered these before.

Edit: see correction by ]343[ below.
emperorchampion
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada9496 Posts
April 27 2011 02:23 GMT
#8
I can read it, but I don't really understand what is going on. What munchmunch wrote definitely makes sense, hopefully Sean will come in and clear anything else up.

The only other thing to say is that his thesis is very kinky :p
TRUEESPORTS || your days as a respected member of team liquid are over
jodogohoo
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Canada2533 Posts
April 27 2011 03:16 GMT
#9
Baxter permutation is before killer started to replace Jaedong as the Zerg Ace for Hwaseung Oz.
emperorchampion
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada9496 Posts
April 27 2011 03:53 GMT
#10
On April 27 2011 12:16 jodogohoo wrote:
Baxter permutation is before killer started to replace Jaedong as the Zerg Ace for Hwaseung Oz.


Hahaha too true!
TRUEESPORTS || your days as a respected member of team liquid are over
]343[
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
United States10328 Posts
April 27 2011 04:02 GMT
#11
On April 27 2011 11:09 munchmunch wrote:
It's actually not hard to understand. There are several ways to think of permutations, but in this case you can think of a permutation as a list of numbers from 1 to n, with each number occurring exactly once.

For example, when n=3 there are 6 permutations:
1 2 3
1 3 2
2 1 3
2 3 1
3 1 2
3 2 1

Now, what is a Baxter permutation? Basically it is a permutation that avoids a certain pattern. So if you look at the list of numbers and see

... a ... b c ... d ...

such that c < a < d < b then the permutation is not Baxter. (Note that there can be numbers in between a and b and between c and d, but b and c must be adjacent). The other pattern to be avoided is b < d < c < a.

As to why they are useful, I can't say without more reading.

Examples:

2 4 1 3 and
4 1 3 2

are NOT Baxter permutations, but all other permutations with length 4 are Baxter permutations.

Disclaimer: could easily be a mistake here, since I haven't encountered these before.


Hmm, I think it says 3 1 4 2 and 2 4 1 3 are not Baxter permutations (yeah, that sounds right, since the inequalities they give are exactly opposite each other.)

A permutation is a rearrangement of an ordered set. What munchmunch says is right, but they try to avoid c < a < d < b and b < d < a < c (just a misreading by him )

So apparently in an amusing coincidence, two different, unrelated people with surname Baxter discovered two different things that could be counted by a certain big expression: Baxter permutations, and plane bipolar maps.

Plane bipolar maps are pretty much a set of points in the plane connected by arrows (directed lines, not necessarily straight) with a certain set of properties (if you start anywhere and follow arrows, you can't get back to where you started; and there are two points on the "outside" of the diagram, one that only has arrows going out, and one that only has arrows going in.)

If we introduce a few more restrictions, and count the number of such maps with a certain number of points/arrows, we can find a one-to-one correspondence to the number of Baxter permutations with certain properties.

This is probably classified as discrete math -> combinatorics -> graph theory / algebraic combinatorics. Looks similar to one of my classes
Writer
munchmunch
Profile Joined October 2010
Canada789 Posts
April 27 2011 06:09 GMT
#12
On April 27 2011 13:02 ]343[ wrote:
Hmm, I think it says 3 1 4 2 and 2 4 1 3 are not Baxter permutations (yeah, that sounds right, since the inequalities they give are exactly opposite each other.)

A permutation is a rearrangement of an ordered set. What munchmunch says is right, but they try to avoid c < a < d < b and b < d < a < c (just a misreading by him )


I think you're right, thanks for the correction.
AzashaRa
Profile Joined February 2011
United States10 Posts
June 19 2011 18:15 GMT
#13
The things Team Liquid has to offer never seize to amaze me. I put my friend to sleep reading this to him. Thank you TL! :D
]343[
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
United States10328 Posts
June 19 2011 21:45 GMT
#14
pretending to know math: a useful talent toi have
Writer
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
RongYI Cup
11:00
Playoffs Day 1
herO vs ShoWTimELIVE!
Solar vs Classic
RotterdaM604
ComeBackTV 526
WardiTV278
IndyStarCraft 134
Rex108
BRAT_OK 94
3DClanTV 64
EnkiAlexander 28
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RotterdaM 604
IndyStarCraft 134
Rex 108
BRAT_OK 94
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 7717
Rain 3782
Flash 2462
Horang2 1594
Hyuk 1470
Larva 786
BeSt 711
Jaedong 451
Stork 325
Soma 312
[ Show more ]
actioN 265
Mini 262
firebathero 256
Zeus 177
Light 157
Soulkey 154
Pusan 102
ZerO 92
Snow 75
ggaemo 69
Rush 65
PianO 64
Shuttle 57
Mong 57
yabsab 56
Mind 55
Barracks 35
ToSsGirL 35
Sea.KH 34
Yoon 33
scan(afreeca) 26
Free 25
Sharp 23
Nal_rA 22
soO 21
Icarus 20
GoRush 19
zelot 19
Shinee 19
JulyZerg 19
910 15
HiyA 13
ajuk12(nOOB) 13
Noble 13
Terrorterran 13
Bale 11
ivOry 6
[sc1f]eonzerg 1
Dota 2
singsing2085
XcaliburYe151
Fuzer 141
NeuroSwarm90
Counter-Strike
kennyS2179
olofmeister1315
zeus581
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King133
Other Games
Sick206
Pyrionflax187
oskar96
ToD83
edward31
ZerO(Twitch)17
Organizations
StarCraft: Brood War
lovetv 6
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• LUISG 37
• Kozan
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• sooper7s
• intothetv
• Migwel
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 8
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV250
• lizZardDota253
League of Legends
• Lourlo1242
Upcoming Events
Wardi Open
2h 23m
Monday Night Weeklies
5h 23m
OSC
12h 23m
Replay Cast
21h 23m
RongYI Cup
23h 23m
Clem vs TriGGeR
Maru vs Creator
WardiTV Invitational
1d 2h
Replay Cast
1d 21h
RongYI Cup
1d 23h
WardiTV Invitational
2 days
The PondCast
2 days
[ Show More ]
HomeStory Cup
4 days
Korean StarCraft League
4 days
HomeStory Cup
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
HomeStory Cup
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
OSC Championship Season 13
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Acropolis #4 - TS4
Rongyi Cup S3
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S1: W6
Escore Tournament S1: W7
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
HSC XXVIII
Nations Cup 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.