On The Diameter of Pancake Graphs

Abstract

The Pancake graph($P_n$) represents the group of all permutations on n elements, namely $S_n$, with respect to the generating set containing all prefix reversals. The diameter of a graph is the maximum of all distances on the graph, where the distance between two vertices is the shortest path between them. In the case of the $P_n$, it is the maximum of the shortest generating sequence of each permutation in $S_n$. Here we propose a method to realise better upper bounds to the diameter of $P_n$ that has its focus on Graph Theoretical concepts rather than Algebra.