\magnification=1200 \hsize=4in \nopagenumbers \noindent % % {\bf Nicolas Pouyanne } % % \medskip \noindent % % {\bf On the Number of Permutations Admitting an m-th Root} % % \vskip 5mm \noindent % % % % Let $m$ be a positive integer, and $p_n(m)$ the proportion of permutations of the symmetric group $S_n$ that admit an $m$-th root. Calculating the exponential generating function of these permutations, we show the following asymptotic formula $$p_n(m)\, \sim \, {{\pi _m}\over {n^{1-\varphi (m)/m}}},\;\; n\to \infty ,$$ where $\varphi$ is the Euler function and $\pi _m$ an explicit constant. \bye .