# How to write a permutation?

How to write a permutation like this ?

• do you know how to utilize the pmatrix environment from amsmath package – percusse Jul 5 '13 at 22:07
• – Werner Jul 5 '13 at 22:15

Consider using amsmath's smallmatrix:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}% http://ctan.org/pkg/amsmath
\begin{document}
$a = \bigl(\begin{smallmatrix} 1 & 2 & 3 & \cdots & n-1 & n \\ 2 & 3 & 4 & \cdots & n & 1 \end{smallmatrix}\bigr)$
Here is another permutation $a = \bigl(\begin{smallmatrix} 1 & 2 & 3 & \cdots & n-1 & n \\ 2 & 3 & 4 & \cdots & n & 1 \end{smallmatrix}\bigr)$ in text mode.

\end{document}


Using amsmath's pmatrix environment:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}
$a = \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 2 & 3 & \cdots & n-1 & n \\ 2 & 3 & 4 & \cdots & n & 1 \end{pmatrix}$
\end{document}


Another solution with matrix

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}
$a = \left( \begin{matrix} 1 & 2 & 3 & \cdots & n-1 & n \\ 2 & 3 & 4 & \cdots & n & 1 \end{matrix} \right)$
\end{document}


I have discovered a package specific also to write also permutations. This package is available on this site https://ctan.org/pkg/permute. I did not know it but it can be useful for other users.

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
\usepackage{permute}%%%% <-----https://ctan.org/pkg/permute
\begin{document}
In this case I have used permute package in math-mode:
$a=\pmtid \pmtdo{(\cdots)} \pmtdo{1{2} 2{3} 3{4} {n-1}{n} {n}{1}} \pmtvprint[1 2 3 \cdots {n-1} n]$
In text-mode we have:
$a=\pmtid \pmtdo{(\cdots)} \pmtdo{1{2} 2{3} 3{4} {n-1}{n} {n}{1}} \pmtvprint[1 2 3 \cdots {n-1} n]$ similar a smallmatrix option.
\end{document}