18CSC301T – FORMAL

LANGUAGE AND AUTOMATA

UNIT-IV
Turing Machines
 Introduction
• TM’s described in 1936
– Well before the days of modern computers but remains a
popular model for what is possible to compute on today’s
systems
– Advances in computing still fall under the TM model, so
even if they may run faster, they are still subject to the
same limitations
• A TM consists of a finite control (i.e. a finite state
automaton) that is connected to an infinite tape.

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 Turing Machine
• The tape consists of cells where each cell holds a symbol from the tape
alphabet. Initially the input consists of a finite-length string of symbols
and is placed on the tape. To the left of the input and to the right of the
input, extending to infinity, are placed blanks. The tape head is initially
positioned at the leftmost cell holding the input.

Finite control

… B B X 1 X2 … Xi Xn B B …

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 Turing Machine Details
• In one move the TM will:
– Change state, which may be the same as the current state
– Write a tape symbol in the current cell, which may be the
same as the current symbol
– Move the tape head left or right one cell
• Formally, the Turing Machine is denoted by the
7-tuple:
– M = (Q, ∑, Γ, δ, q0, B, F)

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 Turing Machine Description
• Q = finite states of the control
• ∑ = finite set of input symbols, which is a subset of Γ below
• Γ = finite set of tape symbols
• δ = transition function. δ(q,X) are a state and tape symbol X.
– The output is the triple, (p, Y, D)
– Where p = next state, Y = new symbol written on the tape, D =
direction to move the tape head
• q0= start state for finite control
• B = blank symbol. This symbol is in Γ but not in ∑.
• F= set of final or accepting states of Q.

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 Instantaneous Description
• Sometimes it is useful to describe what a TM does in terms of
its ID (instantaneous description), just as we did with the
PDA.

• The ID shows all non-blank cells in the tape, pointer to the

cell the head is over with the name of the current state
– use the turnstile symbol ├ to denote the move.
– As before, to denote zero or many moves, we can use ├*.

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 A Turing Machine
Tape
...... ......

Read-Write head
Control Unit

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 The Tape
No boundaries -- infinite length
...... ......

Read-Write head

The head moves Left or Right

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 ...... ......

Read-Write head

The head at each time step:

1. Reads a symbol
2. Writes a symbol
3. Moves Left or Right
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Example:
Time 0
...... a b a c ......

Time 1
...... a b k c ......

a
1. Reads

2. Writes
k unit-4/Turning Machine 11
 Time 1
...... a b k c ......

Time 2
...... a f k c ......

1. Reads b
2. Writes f
3. Moves Right unit-4/Turning Machine 12
 The Input String
Input string Blank symbol

...... a b a c ......

head
Head starts at the leftmost position
of the input string
Are treated as left and right brackets for the
input written on the tape.
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States & Transitions
Read Write
Move Left

q a b, L
q2
1
Move Right

q a b, R
q2
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Example:
Time 1
...... a b a c ......

q1
current state

q a b, R
q2
1 unit-4/Turning Machine 15
 Time 1
...... a b a c ......

q1

Time 2
...... a b b c ......

q2

q a b, R
q2
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Example:
Time 1
...... a b a c ......

q1

Time 2
...... a b b c ......

q2

q a b, L
q2
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Example:
Time 1
...... a b a c ......

q1

Time 2
...... a b b c g ......

q2

q g,
q2
R unit-4/Turning Machine 18
 Determinism
Turing Machines are deterministic

Allowed Not
Allowed
a b, R q2 q2
a b, R
q q

1 b d, L q3 1 a d, L q3

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 Partial Transition
Function
Example:
...... a b a c ......

q
1
a b, R Allowed:
q2
q No transition
for input symbol
c
1 b d, L q3
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The machine halts if there are
Halting
no possible transitions to follow
Example:

...... a b a c ......

q
1
a b, R q2
No possible transition
q
HALT!!!
1 b d, L q3
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 Final States
q q2 Allowed
1

q q2 Not
Allowed
1

• Final states have no outgoing transitions

• In a final state the machine halts

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 Turing Machines as Acceptors
• A Turing machine halts when it no longer has
any available moves. If it halts in a final state,
it accepts its input; otherwise, it rejects its
input.

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 Turing Machines as Acceptors
• We said a Turing machine accepts its input if it
halts in a final state. There are two ways this
could fail to happen:
• The Turing machine could halt in a nonfinal
state, or The Turing machine could never stop
(in which case we say it is in an infinite loop. )
• If a Turing machine halts, the sequence of
configurations leading to the halt state is
called a computation.

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 Acceptance
If machine halts
Accept Input
in a final state

If machinehalts
in a non-final state
Reject Input or
If machine enters
an infinite loop
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 Turing Machine Example
A Turing machine that accepts the language:
aa *

a a, R

, q
q0
L
1
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Time 0 a a a

q0

a a, R

, q
q0
L
1
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Time 1 a a a

q0

a a, R

, q
q0
L
1
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Time 2 a a a

q0

a a, R

, q
q0
L
1
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Time 3 a a a

q0

a a, R

, q
q0
L
1
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Time 4 a a a

q
1

a a, R Halt & Accept

, q
q0
L
1
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Rejection Example

Time 0 a b a

q0

a a, R

, q
q0
L
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Time 1 a b a

q0

No possible Transition
a a, R Halt & Reject

, q
q0
L
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Infinite Loop Example

b b, L
a a, R

, q
q0
L
1
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Time 0 a b a

q0

b b, L
a a, R

, q
q0
L
1
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Time 1 a b a

q0

b b, L
a a, R

, q
q0
L
1
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Time 2 a b a

q0

b b, L
a a, R

, q
q0
L
1
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Time 2 a b a

q0
Time 3 a b a

q0
Time 4 a b a

q0
Time 5 a b a

... Infinite Loop q0

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Because of the infinite loop:

•The final state cannot be reached

•The machine never halts

•The input is not accepted

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 Another Turing Machine
Example n n
Turing machine for the language {a b
}

q4 y y, R y y, L
y y, R a a, R a a, L
,
L
y y, R 0 a x, b y,
q3 q q q2
R L
x 1 x,
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• aabb
• Xabb
• XaYb
• XXYb
• XXYY

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 Time 0 a a b b

q0

q4 y y, R y y, L
y y, R a a, R a a, L
,
L
y y, R 0 a x, b y,
q3 q q q2
R L
x 1 x,
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 Time 1 x a b b

q
1

q4 y y, R y y, L
y y, R a a, R a a, L
,
L
y y, R 0 a x, b y,
q3 q q q2
R L
x 1 x,
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 Time 2 x a b b

q
1

q4 y y, R y y, L
y y, R a a, R a a, L
,
L
y y, R 0 a x, b y,
q3 q q q2
R L
x 1 x,
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 Time 3 x a y b

q2

q4 y y, R y y, L
y y, R a a, R a a, L
,
L
y y, R 0 a x, b y,
q3 q q q2
R L
x 1 x,
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 Time 4 x a y b

q2

q4 y y, R y y, L
y y, R a a, R a a, L
,
L
y y, R 0 a x, b y,
q3 q q q2
R L
x 1 x,
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 Time 5 x a y b

q0

q4 y y, R y y, L
y y, R a a, R a a, L
,
L
y y, R 0 a x, b y,
q3 q q q2
R L
x 1 x,
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 Time 6 x x y b

q
1

q4 y y, R y y, L
y y, R a a, R a a, L
,
L
y y, R 0 a x, b y,
q3 q q q2
R L
x 1 x,
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 Time 7 x x y b

q
1

q4 y y, R y y, L
y y, R a a, R a a, L
,
L
y y, R 0 a x, b y,
q3 q q q2
R L
x 1 x,
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 Time 8 x x y y

q2

q4 y y, R y y, L
y y, R a a, R a a, L
,
L
y y, R 0 a x, b y,
q3 q q q2
R L
x 1 x,
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 Time 9 x x y y

q2

q4 y y, R y y, L
y y, R a a, R a a, L
,
L
y y, R 0 a x, b y,
q3 q q q2
R L
x 1 x,
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 Time 10 x x y y

q0

q4 y y, R y y, L
y y, R a a, R a a, L
,
L
y y, R 0 a x, b y,
q3 q q q2
R L
x 1 x,
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 Time 11 x x y y

q3

q4 y y, R y y, L
y y, R a a, R a a, L
,
L
y y, R 0 a x, b y,
q3 q q q2
R L
x 1 x,
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 Time 12 x x y y

q3

q4 y y, R y y, L
y y, R a a, R a a, L
,
L
y y, R 0 a x, b y,
q3 q q q2
R L
x 1 x,
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 Time 13 x x y y

q4

Halt & Accept

q4 y y, R y y, L
y y, R a a, R a a, L
,
L
y y, R 0 a x, b y,
q3 q q q2
R L
x 1 x,
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Observation:

If we modify the
machine for the language n n
{a b }

we can easily construct

n n n
a machine for the language {a b c }

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 Turing Machines as Language
Acceptors- Example 2
• Design a TM to recognize the language of
strings of the form 0n1n2n

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• Construct a TM that accepts the palindrome of
the string over the alphabets {a,b}
b a b b a b B

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unit-4/Turning Machine 60
Computing Functions
with
Turing Machines
A function has:

Domain: Result Region:

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A function may have many parameters:

Example: Addition function

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 Integer Domain

Decimal: 5

Binary: 101

Unary: 11111

We prefer unary representation:

easier to manipulate with Turing machines

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Definition:

A function is computable if
there is a Turing Machine such that:

Initial configuration Final configuration

initial state accept state

For all Domain

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In other words:
A function is computable if
there is a Turing Machine such that:

Initial Halts at Final

Configuration Configuration

For all Domain

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 Example
The function is computable

are integers

Turing Machine:

Input string: unary

Output string: unary

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Start

initial state

The 0 is the delimiter that

separates the two numbers

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Start

initial state

Finish

final state
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 The 0 here helps when we use
the result for other operations

Finish

final state
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Turing machine for function

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Execution Example: Time 0

(=2)

(=2)

Final Result

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Time 0

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Time 1

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Time 2

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Time 3

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Time 4

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Time 5

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Time 6

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Time 7

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Time 8

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Time 9

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Time 10

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Time 11

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Time 12

HALT & accept

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 Another Example
The function is computable

is integer

Turing Machine:

Input string: unary

Output string: unary

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Start

initial state

Finish

accept state
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Turing Machine Pseudocode for

• Replace every 1 with $

• Repeat:
• Find rightmost $, replace it with 1

• Go to right end, insert 1

Until no more $ remain

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Turing Machine for

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 Example
Start Finish

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 Back to binary!
• How do we add two binary numbers on a Turing
machine?

• Instead of dealing with it directly, let us divide

the problem into 2 parts
• How to subtract 1 from a binary number
• How to add 1 to a binary number

• HW – think about how to do this without

subroutines/functions/methods

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 How to add 1 to a binary number?
•What is 11000 + 1 = ?

•What is 10111 + 1 = ?

•The pattern that emerges is …..

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 Multitape Turing Machines
• A multitape Turing machine is like an ordinary TM
but it has several tapes instead of one tape.
• Initially the input starts on tape 1 and the other
tapes are blank.
• The transition function is changed to allow for
reading, writing, and moving the heads on all the
tapes simultaneously.
– This means we could read on multiples tape and move in
different directions on each tape as well as write a
different symbol on each tape, all in one move.

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 Multitape Turing Machine
• Theorem: A multitape TM is equivalent in power to an
ordinary TM. Recall that two TM’s are equivalent if they
recognize the same language. We can show how to convert
a multitape TM, M, to a single tape TM, S:
• Say that M has k tapes.
– Create the TM S to simulate having k tapes by interleaving the
information on each of the k tapes on its single tape
– Use a new symbol # as a delimiter to separate the contents of each
tape
– S must also keep track of the location on each of the simulated heads
• Write a type symbol with a * to mark the place where the head on the
tape would be
• The * symbols are new tape symbols that don’t exist with M
• The finite control must have the proper logic to distinguish say, x* and x
and realize both refer to the same thing, but one is the current tape
symbol.

unit-4/Turning Machine 94
 Multitape Machine

Equivalent Single Tape Machine:

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 Nondeterministic TM
• Replace the “DFA” part of the TM with an “NFA”
– Each time we make a nondeterministic move, you can think of this as a
branch or “fork” to two simultaneously running machines. Each
machine gets a copy of the entire tape. If any one of these machines
ends up in an accepting state, then the input is accepted.
• Although powerful, nondeterminism does not affect the
power of the TM model
• Theorem: Every nondeterministic TM has an equivalent
deterministic TM.
– We can prove this theorem by simulating any nondeterministic TM, N,
with a deterministic TM, D.

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 Nondeterministic TM
• Visualize N as a tree with branches whenever we fork off to two (or more)
simultaneous machines.
– Use D to try all possible branches of N, sequentially.
– If D ever finds the accept state on one of these branches, then D accepts.
– It is quite likely that D will never terminate in the event of a loop if there is no
accepting state.
• Search be done in a breadth-first rather than depth-first manner.
– An individual branch may extend to infinity, and if we start down this branch
then D will be stuck forever when some other branch may accept the input.
• We can simulate N on D by a tape with a queue of ID’s and a scratch tape
for temporary storage.
– Each ID contains all the moves we have made from one state to the next, for
one “branch” of the nondeterministic tree.
– From the previous theorem, we can make as many multiple tapes as we like and
this is still equivalent to a single tape machine. Initially, D looks like the
following:

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 Nondeterministic TM
• ID1 is the sequence of moves we make from the start state. The *
indicates that this is the current ID we are executing.
• We make a move on the TM. If this move results in a “fork” by following
nondeterministic paths, then we create a new ID and copy it to the end of
the queue using the scratch tape.

Scratch Tape
D

… ID1* Queue of ID’s

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 Nondeterministic TM
• For example, say that in ID1 we have two nondeterministic
moves, resulting in ID2 and ID3:

Scratch Tape
D

… ID1* # ID2 # ID3

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 Nondeterministic TM
• After we’re done with a single move in ID1, which
may result in increasing the length of ID1 and storing
it back to the tape, we move on to ID2:

Scratch Tape
D

… ID1 # ID2* # ID3

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 Nondeterministic TM
• If any one of these states is accepting in an ID, then the
machine quits and accepts.
• If we ever reach the last ID, then we repeat back with the first
ID.

• Note that although the constructed deterministic TM is

equivalent to accepting the same language as a
nondeterministic TM, the deterministic TM might take
exponentially more time than the nondeterministic TM.
– It is unknown if this exponential slowdown is necessary. We’ll come
back to this in the discussion of P vs. NP.

• Theorem: Since any deterministic Turing Machine is also

nondeterministic (there just happens to be no
nondeterministic moves), there exists a nondeterministic TM
for every deterministic TM.

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 Equivalence of TM’s and Computers
• In one sense, a real computer has a finite amount of
memory, and thus is weaker than a TM.
• But, we can postulate an infinite supply of tapes,
disks, or some peripheral storage device to simulate
an infinite TM tape. Additionally, we can assume
there is a human operator to mount disks, keep
them stacked neatly on the sides of the computer,
etc.
• Need to show both directions, a TM can simulate a
computer and that a computer can simulate a TM

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THANK YOU!!!

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