Cyclic permutation

Cyclic permutation is like a game of musical chairs. Imagine you and your friends are playing the game where you all sit on chairs with one less chair than the number of players. When the music starts, you and your friends move around the chairs. When the music stops, you all try to sit on a chair. If you cannot sit on a chair, you're out of the game.

Cyclic permutation is similar but with numbers instead of chairs and instead of moving when the music stops, the numbers move in a specific order. Imagine you have the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. If these numbers move in a specific order like in musical chairs, then we write it as (12345), which means the numbers move from left to right. So, the first number (1) moves to the second position, the second number (2) moves to the third position, and so on until the last number (5) moves to the first position, completing the cycle.

Another example is (2431), which means the numbers move from the top to the right, then to the bottom, then to the left. So, 2 goes to 4, 4 goes to 3, 3 goes to 1, and 1 goes to 2, completing the cycle.

Cyclic permutation is important in mathematics because it helps us understand how numbers move in a specific order and helps us solve problems related to permutations and combinations.