 Rank of a permutation action

The rank is the number of orbits on ordered pairs under the diagonal group action. Its fixed-pair count at $g$ is $\chi (g{)}^2$, since the permutation character counts fixed points. Burnside's lemma identifies its average with the orbit count, while real-valuedness makes that average the character inner product of $\chi$ with itself. For a transitive action on at least two points, rank two is equivalent to transitivity on distinct ordered pairs.