On the frequencies of patterns of rises and falls

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We investigate the probability of observing a given pattern of n rises and falls in a random stationary data series. The data are modelled as a sequence of n+1 independent and identically distributed random numbers. This probabilistic approach has a combinatorial equivalent, where the data are modelled by a random permutation on n+1 objects. The probability of observing a long pattern of rises and falls decays exponentially with its length n in general. The associated decay rate α is interpreted as the embedding entropy of the pattern. This rate is evaluated exactly for all periodic patterns. In the most general case, it is expressed in terms of a determinant of generalized hyperbolic or trigonometric functions. Alternating patterns have the smallest rate α min=(π/2)=0.451582, while other examples lead to arbitrarily large rates. The probabilities of observing uniformly chosen random patterns are demonstrated to obey multifractal statistics. The typical value α₀=0.806361 of the rate plays the role of a Lyapunov exponent. A wide range of examples of patterns, either deterministic or random, is also investigated.