# Similarity between two nPn permutations of the same set.

Given two $nPn$ permutations of the same $n$-sized set, how can one find out the similarity between these permutations over the interval $[0, 1]$?

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Is your idea that the sequence $\langle A, B, C, D, E\rangle$ should be considered similar to $\langle B, A, C, D, E\rangle$ and to $\langle E, A, B, C, D\rangle$, but less similar to $\langle C, E, D, A, B\rangle$? –  MJD Jun 17 '12 at 16:26
Yes, exactly. But how to quantify it? I search on the Internet, and found that one can think in terms of counting the number of "shift" operations it would take to convert one permutation into the other--something similar to Hamming distance. –  user1030497 Jun 17 '12 at 16:33
If you have two permutations $\sigma_1$ and $\sigma_2$, you can find the "difference" between them as the permutation $\sigma_2\sigma_1^{-1}$, of which you can compute the inversion number or the disorder (same thing) as shown by the two existing answers. –  Rahul Aug 20 '12 at 3:44