TITLE: Can we say that each monotonic sequence is a bitonic?
QUESTION [6 upvotes]: Is it mathematically correct to state that every monotonic is actually a bitonic with 0 number of elements in other half? I.e., if it is increasing then we can say it has 0 elements in decreasing order, so it is bitonic.

REPLY [6 votes]: Yes, it is correct, provided that your definition of bitonic is what I see on Wikipedia: 

A bitonic sequence is a sequence with $x_0 \leq \cdots \leq x_k \geq \cdots \geq x_{n-1}$ for some $k$, $0 \leq k < n$, or a circular shift of such a sequence.

This definition includes decreasing sequences ($k=0$) and   increasing sequences ($k=n-1$).