The probability of finding a fixed pattern in random data depends monotonically on the bifix indicator

Abstract

We consider the problem of finding a fixed L-ary sequence in a stream of random L-ary data. It is known that the expected search time is a strictly increasing function of the lengths of the bifices of the pattern. In this paper we prove the related statement that the probability of finding the pattern in a finite random word is a strictly decreasing function of the lengths of the bifices of the pattern.