Group characters and algebra

Abstract It has been known for some time* that the elements of a matrix of degree n may be arranged in sets which correspond to cycles of the symmetric group of order n !, and that there are relations connecting permanents and determinants, e.g. , /a* p y S a |3 y 8/ ( Further, MACMAHON and BRIOSCHI have pointed out the close analogy which exists between the threefold algebra of the symmetric functions an, hn and sn, and the theory of determinants, permanents, and the cycles of substitutions of the symmetric group. Here we trace the analogy to its source by fixing attention on the characters of the irreducible representations of the symmetric group of linear substitutions, as the centre of the whole theory. By this means divers theories of combinatory analysis and algebra are seen to be merely different aspects of the same theory. For the symmetric group of order n ! the characters are all integers, and we associate with each partition of n both a character of the group and a cycle of substitutions.