O(nlogn) Algorithm - Find three evenly spaced ones within binary string

Question

I had this question on an Algorithms test yesterday, and I can\'t figure out the answer. It is driving me absolutely crazy, because it was worth about 40 points. I figure

Answer 1

# 
def contains_evenly_spaced?(input)
  return false if input.size < 3
  one_indices = []
  input.each_with_index do |digit, index|
    next if digit == 0
    one_indices << index
  end
  return false if one_indices.size < 3
  previous_indexes = []
  one_indices.each do |index|
    if !previous_indexes.empty?
      previous_indexes.each do |previous_index|
        multiple = index - previous_index
        success_index = index + multiple
        return true if input[success_index] == 1
      end
    end
    previous_indexes << index
  end
  return false
end
# 

def parse_input(input)
  input.chars.map { |c| c.to_i }
end

I'm having trouble with the worst-case scenarios with millions of digits. Fuzzing from /dev/urandom essentially gives you O(n), but I know the worst case is worse than that. I just can't tell how much worse. For small n, it's trivial to find inputs at around 3*n*log(n), but it's surprisingly hard to differentiate those from some other order of growth for this particular problem.

Can anyone who was working on worst-case inputs generate a string with length greater than say, one hundred thousand?