Linear extension numbers of $n$-element posets

Abstract

We address the following natural but hitherto unstudied question: what are the possible linear extension numbers of an $n$-element poset? Let $\mathbf{LE}(n)$ denote the set of all positive integers that arise as the number of linear extensions of some $n$-element poset. We show that $\mathbf{LE}(n)$ skews towards the "small" end of the interval $[1,n!]$. More specifically, $\mathbf{LE}(n)$ contains all of the positive integers up to $\exp \left(c\frac{n}{\log n}\right)$ for some absolute constant $c$, and $|\mathbf{LE}(n)\cap ((n-1)!,n!]|<(n-3)!$. The proof of the former statement involves some intermediate number-theoretic results about the Stern-Brocot tree that are of independent interest.