Scribd
Upload
40 views

1 IntroToAutomataTheory

Chapter 1 introduces the study of abstract computing devices called automata and discusses some fundamental questions in computer science, such as classifying what different models of machines can and cannot do. It covers early pioneers like Alan Turing and concepts like regular languages, grammars, and the Chomsky hierarchy. The chapter also discusses different types of proofs used in automata theory and formal languages.

Uploaded by

Maddie
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
40 views

1 IntroToAutomataTheory

Chapter 1 introduces the study of abstract computing devices called automata and discusses some fundamental questions in computer science, such as classifying what different models of machines can and cannot do. It covers early pioneers like Alan Turing and concepts like regular languages, grammars, and the Chomsky hierarchy. The chapter also discusses different types of proofs used in automata theory and formal languages.

Uploaded by

Maddie
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 25

Reading: Chapter 1

§ Study of abstract computing devices, or


“machines”
§ Automaton = an abstract computing device
§ Note: A “device” need not even be a physical
hardware!
§ 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
(A pioneer of automata theory)

§ Fatherof Modern Computer


Science
§ English mathematician
§ Studiedabstract machines called
Turing machines even before
computers existed
§ Heard of the Turing test?
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

1970- Modern computer science: compilers,


computational & complexity theory evolve
§ 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


• A containment hierarchy of classes of formal languages

Regular Context-
(DFA) free Context-
Recursively-
(PDA) sensitive
enumerable
(LBA)
(TM)
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}
§…
A string or word is a finite sequence of symbols
chosen from ∑
§ Empty string is e (or “epsilon”)

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


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

§ xy = concatentation of two strings x and y


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 …
L is a said to be a language over alphabet ∑, only if L Í ∑*
è 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 = {e, 01, 0011, 000111,…}
2. Let L be the language of all strings of with equal number of
0’s and 1’s:
L = {e, 01, 10, 0011, 1100, 0101, 1010, 1001,…}

Canonical ordering of strings in the language


Definition: Ø denotes the Empty language
§ Let L = {e}; Is L=Ø?

NO
Given a string w Î∑*and a language L over ∑, decide whether or
not w ÎL.

Example:
Let w = 100011
Q) Is w Î the language of strings with equal number of 0s and
1s?
§ 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)
action
§ On/Off switch state

§ Modeling recognition of the


word “then”

Start state Transition Intermediate Final state


state
§ 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
letters (possibly Should end w/ 2-letter state code
empty)

Other space delimited words


(part of city name)
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).


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.
Claim 2:
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) è a2≥1, b2≥1, c2≥1, d2≥1 (by 2)
4) èx≥4 (by 1 & 3)
5) è 2x ≥ x2 (by 4 and Claim 1)

“implies” or “follows”
We typically refer to:
§ A major result as a “theorem”
§ An intermediate result that we show to prove a larger result as a
“lemma”
§ A result that follows from an already proven result as a
“corollary”
An example:
Theorem: The height of an n-node binary
tree is at least floor(lg n)
Lemma: Level i of a perfect binary tree has
2i nodes.
Corollary: A perfect binary tree of height h
has 2h+1-1 nodes.
“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”
§ 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
§ 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
§ “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
§ “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”
§ 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

You might also like