The problem of identifying meaningful patterns (i.e., motifs) from biological data has been
studied extensively due to its paramount importance. Three versions of this problem have
been identified in the literature. One of these three problems is the planted (l, d)-motif
problem. Several instances of this problem have been posed as a challenge. Numerous
algorithms have been proposed in the literature that address this challenge. Many of these
algorithms fall under the category of heuristic algorithms. In this paper we present algorithms
for the planted (l, d)-motif problem that always find the correct answer(s). Our algorithms
are very simple and are based on some ideas that are fundamentally different from
the ones employed in the literature. We believe that the techniques we introduce in this
paper will find independent applications.
