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Longest common subsequences between words of very unequal length

Probability 2021-08-20 v2 Combinatorics

Abstract

We consider the expected length of the longest common subsequence between two random words of lengths nn and (1ε)kn(1-\varepsilon)kn over kk-symbol alphabet. It is well-known that this quantity is asymptotic to γk,εn\gamma_{k,\varepsilon} n for some constant γk,ε\gamma_{k,\varepsilon}. We show that γk,ε\gamma_{k,\varepsilon} is of the order 1cε21-c\varepsilon^2 uniformly in kk and ε\varepsilon. In addition, for large kk, we give evidence that γk,ε\gamma_{k,\varepsilon} approaches 114ε21-\tfrac{1}{4}\varepsilon^2, and prove a matching lower bound.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.2009.05869,
  title  = {Longest common subsequences between words of very unequal length},
  author = {Boris Bukh and Zichao Dong},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2009.05869},
  year   = {2021}
}

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38 pages