Department of Computer and Communication Engineering (CCE)

THEORY OF COMPUTATION
CST-352

Introduction to Automata
Theory

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 Department of Computer and Communication Engineering (CCE)

Objectives

• To have knowledge of automata theory

• To get knowledge of languages and grammars

University Institute of Engineering (UIE)

 Department of Computer and Communication Engineering (CCE)

What is Automata Theory?

• Study of abstract computing devices, or

“machines”
• Automaton = an abstract computing device
• A fundamental question in computer science:
– Find out what different models of machines can do and
cannot do
– The theory of computation
• Computability vs. Complexity

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(A pioneer of automata theory)

Alan Turing (1912-1954)

• Father of Modern Computer

Science

• English mathematician

• Studied abstract machines called

Turing machines even before
computers existed

• Heard of the Turing test?

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 Department of Computer and Communication Engineering (CCE)

Theory of Computation: A Historical Perspective

1930s • Alan Turing studies Turing machines

• Decidability
• Halting problem

1940-1950s • “Finite automata” machines studied

• Noam Chomsky proposes the
“Chomsky Hierarchy” for formal
languages
1969 Cook introduces “intractable” problems
or “NP-Hard” problems
Modern computer science: compilers,
1970-
computational & complexity theory evolve
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 Languages & Grammars
• Languages: “A language is a
Or “words” collection of sentences of finite
length all constructed from a
finite alphabet of symbols”
• Grammars: “A grammar can
be regarded as a device that
enumerates the sentences of a
language” - nothing more,
nothing less

• N. Chomsky, Information and

Control, Vol 2, 1959

Image source: Nowak et al. Nature, vol 417, 2002

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 The Chomsky Hierachy
• A containment hierarchy of classes of formal languages

Regular Context-
(DFA) Context- Recursively-
free
sensitive enumerable
(PDA)
(LBA) (TM)

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The Central Concepts of
Automata Theory

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 Department of Computer and Communication Engineering (CCE)

Alphabet

An alphabet is a finite, non-empty set of symbols

• We use the symbol ∑ (sigma) to denote an
alphabet
• Examples:
– Binary: ∑ = {0,1}
– All lower case letters: ∑ = {a,b,c,..z}
– Alphanumeric: ∑ = {a-z, A-Z, 0-9}
– DNA molecule letters: ∑ = {a,c,g,t}
– …

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 Department of Computer and Communication Engineering (CCE)

Strings

A string or word is a finite sequence of symbols

chosen from ∑
• Empty string is  (or “epsilon”)

• Length of a string w, denoted by “|w|”, is equal to

the number of (non- ) characters in the string
– E.g., x = 010100 |x| = 6
– x = 01  0  1  00  |x| = ?

– xy = concatentation of two strings x and y

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Powers of an alphabet
Let ∑ be an alphabet.

– ∑k = the set of all strings of length k

– ∑* = ∑0 U ∑1 U ∑2 U …

– ∑+ = ∑1 U ∑2 U ∑3 U …

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Languages
L is a said to be a language over alphabet ∑, only if L  ∑*
 this is because ∑* is the set of all strings (of all possible length
including 0) over the given alphabet ∑
Examples:
1. Let L be the language of all strings consisting of n 0’s followed by n
1’s:
L = {,01,0011,000111,…}
2. Let L be the language of all strings of with equal number of 0’s and
1’s:
L = {,01,10,0011,1100,0101,1010,1001,…}

Definition: Ø denotes the Empty language

• Let L = {}; Is L=Ø? NO

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 Department of Computer and Communication Engineering (CCE)

The Membership Problem

Given a string w ∑*and a language L over ∑, decide

whether or not w L.

Example:
Let w = 100011
Q) Is w  the language of strings with equal number of 0s
and 1s?

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Finite Automata

• Some Applications
– Software for designing and checking the behavior of
digital circuits
– Lexical analyzer of a typical compiler
– Software for scanning large bodies of text (e.g., web
pages) for pattern finding
– Software for verifying systems of all types that have a
finite number of states (e.g., stock market transaction,
communication/network protocol)

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Finite Automata : Examples

• On/Off switch action

state

• Modeling recognition of the word “then”

Start state Transition Intermediate Final state

state
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Structural expressions

• Grammars
• Regular expressions
– E.g., unix style to capture city names such as “Palo Alto CA”:
• [A-Z][a-z]*([ ][A-Z][a-z]*)*[ ][A-Z][A-Z]

Start with a letter

A string of other Should end w/ 2-letter state code

letters (possibly
empty)

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Formal Proofs

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Deductive Proofs

From the given statement(s) to a conclusion

statement (what we want to prove)
• Logical progression by direct implications

Example for parsing a statement:

• “If y≥4, then 2y≥y2.”

given conclusion

(there are other ways of writing this).

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Example: Deductive proof

Let Claim 1: If y≥4, then 2y≥y2.

Let x be any number which is obtained by adding the squares of 4

positive integers.

Given x and assuming that Claim 1 is true, prove that 2x≥x2

• Proof:
1) Given: x = a2 + b2 + c2 + d2
2) Given: a≥1, b≥1, c≥1, d≥1
3)  a2≥1, b2≥1, c2≥1, d2≥1 (by 2)
4)  x ≥ 4 (by 1 & 3)
5)  2x ≥ x2 (by 4 and Claim 1)
“implies” or “follows”
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 Department of Computer and Communication Engineering (CCE)

Quantifiers

“For all” or “For every”

– Universal proofs
– Notation*=?
“There exists”
– Used in existential proofs
– Notation*=?
Implication is denoted by =>
• E.g., “IF A THEN B” can also be written as “A=>B”

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Proving techniques
• By contradiction
– Start with the statement contradictory to the given statement
– E.g., To prove (A => B), we start with:
• (A and ~B)
• … and then show that could never happen

What if you want to prove that “(A and B => C or D)”?

• By induction
– (3 steps) Basis, inductive hypothesis, inductive step
• By contrapositive statement
– If A then B ≡ If ~B then ~A

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Proving techniques…
• By counter-example
– Show an example that disproves the claim

• Note: There is no such thing called a

“proof by example”!
– So when asked to prove a claim, an example that
satisfied that claim is not a proof

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Different ways of saying the same

thing
• “If H then C”:
i. H implies C
ii. H => C
iii. C if H
iv. H only if C
v. Whenever H holds, C follows

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 Department of Computer and Communication Engineering (CCE)

“If-and-Only-If” statements

• “A if and only if B” (A <==> B)

– (if part) if B then A ( <= )
– (only if part) A only if B ( => )
(same as “if A then B”)
• “If and only if” is abbreviated as “iff”
– i.e., “A iff B”
• Example:
– Theorem: Let x be a real number. Then floor of x = ceiling
of x if and only if x is an integer.
• Proofs for iff have two parts
– One for the “if part” & another for the “only if part”

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Outcomes
• Automata theory & a historical perspective
• Chomsky hierarchy
• Finite automata
• Alphabets, strings/words/sentences, languages
• Membership problem
• Proofs:
– Deductive, induction, contrapositive, contradiction, counterexample
– If and only if

• Read chapter 1 for more examples and exercises

• Gradiance homework 1

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 Department of Computer and Communication Engineering (CCE)

FAQ :

1. Construct the powerset for the following sets.

• {a, b}
• {0, 1}∪{1, 2}
• {z}
• {0, 1, 2, 3, 4}∩{1, 3, 5, a}
• {0, 1, 2, 3}−{1, 3, 5, a}
• ∅ (the empty set)
2. Prove that 12 +22+32+……+ n2= ∑n2 =
(n(n+1)(2n+1))/6.

University Institute of Engineering (UIE)

 Department of Computer and Communication Engineering (CCE)

References :
• Martin J.C., “Introduction to Languages and Theory of
Computation”, Tata McGraw-Hill Publising Company
Limited, 3rd Edition.
• https://youtu.be/S3cOulqSAmU
• Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite-state_machine
• https://www.safaribooksonline.com

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