• 1 Department of Mathematics [Univ California Davis]

Let $\textbf{as}_n$ denote the length of a longest alternating subsequence in a uniformly random permutation of order $n$. Stanley studied the distribution of $\textbf{as}_n$ using algebraic methods, and showed in particular that $\mathbb{E}(\textbf{as}_n) = (4n+1)/6$ and $\textrm{Var}(\textbf{as}_n) = (32n-13)/180$. From Stanley's result it can be shown that after rescaling, $\textbf{as}_n$ converges in the limit to the Gaussian distribution. In this extended abstract we present a new approach to the study of $\textbf{as}_n$ by relating it to the sequence of local extrema of a random permutation, which is shown to form a "canonical'' longest alternating subsequence. Using this connection we reprove the abovementioned results in a more probabilistic and transparent way. We also study the distribution of the values of the local minima and maxima, and prove that in the limit the joint distribution of successive minimum-maximum pairs converges to the two-dimensional distribution whose density function is given by $f(s,t) = 3(1-s)t e^{t-s}$.