Jonathan Parlett - Fixed Point Homing Shuffles

dmtcs:14653 - Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science, August 18, 2025, vol. 27:1, Permutation Patterns 2024 - https://doi.org/10.46298/dmtcs.14653
Fixed Point Homing ShufflesArticle

Authors: Jonathan Parlett

We study a family of maps from $S_n \to S_n$ we call fixed point homing shuffles. These maps generalize a few known problems such as Conway's Topswops, and a card shuffling process studied by Gweneth McKinley. We show that the iterates of these homing shuffles always converge, and characterize the set $U_n$ of permutations that no homing shuffle sorts. We also study a homing shuffle that sorts anything not in $U_n$, and find how many iterations it takes to converge in the worst case.

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Volume: vol. 27:1, Permutation Patterns 2024
Section: Special issues
Published on: August 18, 2025
Accepted on: July 9, 2025
Submitted on: October 31, 2024
Keywords: Combinatorics

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