 Define a symbol: Smallest building block in computa on, e.g., a, b, 0, 1.

 What is an alphabet? A finite set of symbols, denoted as Σ (e.g., {a, b, c}).

 What is a string? An ordered sequence of symbols from Σ, e.g., "abc."
 Define a formal language: A set of strings formed from an alphabet, e.g., {a, aa}.
 What does DFA stand for? Determinis c Finite Automaton.
 Types of finite automata: DFA and NFA.
 Transi on func on in DFA: δ: Q × Σ → Q, maps state-input pairs to states.
 Prefix of a string: Leading symbols of a string, e.g., prefixes of "abc" are ∈, a, ab.
 Proper prefix: A prefix excluding the full string, e.g., ∈, a, ab (for "abc").
 Suffix of a string: Trailing symbols of a string, e.g., ∈, c, bc (for "abc").
 Example of regular language: Strings ending with "a," e.g., {a, ba, aba}.
 Use of Mealy machine: Outputs depend on transi ons.
 Define NFA: Non-determinis c finite automaton; mul ple transi ons possible for an
input.
 What is ε-move in NFA? A transi on on an empty input symbol.
 Ini al state in DFA: Denoted as q₀, the star ng state.
 Define pumping lemma: A property to prove non-regularity of languages.
 Closure proper es in regular languages: Union, intersec on, concatena on, etc.
 Define CFG: A grammar genera ng context-free languages.
 What is a parse tree? A tree represen ng the deriva on of a string in CFG.
 Define CNF: CFG in a specific form with produc ons of the type A → BC or A → a.
 What is a Turing machine? A mathema cal model of computa on with a tape.
 One type of Turing machine: Mul -tape Turing machine.
 Ambiguous grammar: A grammar with mul ple parse trees for a string.
 LBA stands for: Linear Bounded Automaton.
 Union of languages: L₁ ∪ L₂ = all strings in L₁ or L₂.
 Determinis c behavior in DFA: One transi on per state for each input.
 Example of language intersec on: L₁ ∩ L₂ = {a} for L₁ = {a, b}, L₂ = {a, c}.
 Purpose of final state: To determine acceptance of strings.
 Define regular grammar: A grammar genera ng regular languages.
 What is ε-closure? All states reachable from a state via ε-moves.

2 marks
1. DFA vs. NFA:
o DFA has one transi on per state for each input symbol, while NFA can have
mul ple or no transi ons.
o DFA requires more space and is harder to construct than NFA.
o NFA allows ε-transi ons, which are not permi ed in DFA.
o Every DFA can be considered an NFA, but not all NFAs can be reduced to DFAs.
2. Concatena on of languages:
o Combines strings from two languages, L₁ and L₂, as xy where x ∈ L₁, y ∈ L₂.
o Example: L₁ = {a}, L₂ = {b}; L₁L₂ = {ab}.
o Useful in building larger languages from simpler ones.
o The result is a set of concatenated strings from both languages.
3. Significance of finite automata:
o Provides a mathema cal model for digital computa on.
o Recognizes pa erns, validates inputs, and verifies strings in a language.
o Forms the basis of lexical analysis in compilers.
o Facilitates the study of language classes like regular and context-free languages.
4. DFA minimiza on:
o Reduces the number of states by merging equivalent states.
o Uses equivalence classes to iden fy redundant states.
o Improves computa onal efficiency while preserving language recogni on.
o Ensures the DFA is the simplest representa on of its language.
5. Formal defini on of DFA:
o DFA is represented as a 5-tuple (Q, Σ, δ, q₀, F).
o Q: Finite set of states; Σ: Input alphabet.
o δ: Transi on func on mapping Q × Σ → Q.
 o q₀: Ini al state; F: Set of accep ng states.
6. NFA to DFA conversion:
o Convert NFA states into DFA states using the subset construc on method.
o Each DFA state represents a subset of NFA states.
o Add transi ons for all possible input symbols.
o Ensure equivalent language recogni on between NFA and resul ng DFA.
7. Closure proper es of regular languages:
o Closed under union: Combines strings from L₁ and L₂.
o Closed under concatena on: Strings formed by appending strings from L₁ to L₂.
o Closed under Kleene star: Infinite repe on of strings in the language.
o Also closed under intersec on and complementa on.
8. Regular expression (RE):
o Compact nota on for describing regular languages.
o Opera ons include union (|), concatena on, and Kleene star (*).
o Example: RE a*b generates strings with zero or more 'a's followed by one 'b'.
o Regular expressions can be converted to finite automata.
9. Pumping lemma significance:
o A tool to prove certain languages are not regular.
o States that sufficiently long strings in a regular language can be "pumped"
(repeated) without leaving the language.
o Helps iden fy non-regular languages through contradic ons.
o Mainly applied to infinite regular languages.
10.Le -linear grammar:
 Produc ons are of the form A → aB or A → a.
 Non-terminal appears on the le -hand side of deriva ons.
 Generates a subset of regular languages.
 O en used in the design of parsers and le most deriva ons.
11.Parse tree:
 A hierarchical tree representa on of the deriva on of a string in a grammar.
 Root node represents the start symbol of the grammar.
 Interior nodes are non-terminals, and leaf nodes are terminals.
 Helps visualize the structure of a string according to grammar rules.
12.Chomsky hierarchy:
 Categorizes grammars into four types: Type 0 (Unrestricted), Type 1 (Context-
sensi ve), Type 2 (Context-free), and Type 3 (Regular).
 Each type has increasing restric ons and complexity.
 Regular languages are the simplest; context-sensi ve languages are the most
complex.
 Provides a theore cal framework for understanding computa onal power.
13.Pushdown automaton (PDA):
 A computa onal model extending finite automata with a stack.
 Used to recognize context-free languages.
 Can store intermediate computa ons in the stack.
 Transi ons depend on the current input, state, and stack symbol.
14.Difference between DPDA and NPDA:
 DPDA (Determinis c PDA): Single transi on per input, stack, and state.
 NPDA (Non-determinis c PDA): Mul ple transi ons for the same input configura on.
 DPDA can recognize a subset of context-free languages, while NPDA recognizes all.
 NPDA uses non-determinis c choices to simplify certain computa ons.
15.Steps to convert CFG to CNF:
 Remove null produc ons (produc ons genera ng empty strings).
 Eliminate unit produc ons (A → B, where B is a non-terminal).
 Simplify the grammar by removing useless symbols.
 Convert all produc ons to the form A → BC or A → a.
16.Importance of context-free languages:
 Defines the syntax of most programming languages.
 Recognized by pushdown automata.
 Provides a founda on for compilers and interpreters.
 Extends regular languages with hierarchical and nested structures.
17.Greibach Normal Form (GNF):
 CFG in which every produc on is of the form A → aα, where a is a terminal, and α is a
sequence of non-terminals.
 Useful in parsing algorithms like top-down parsing.
 Helps in simplifying grammar transforma ons.
 Equivalent to other CFG forms like Chomsky Normal Form.
18.Components of a Turing machine:
 Tape: Infinite memory divided into cells.
 Head: Reads and writes symbols on the tape.
 State register: Tracks the current state.
 Transi on func on: Determines the next state, tape symbol, and head movement.
19.Mul -tape Turing machine:
 A Turing machine with mul ple tapes, each with its own head.
 Enhances computa onal efficiency by allowing parallel data processing.
 Equivalent in computa onal power to single-tape TMs.
 Easier to design algorithms for certain problems.
20.Difference between Mealy and Moore machines:
 Mealy machine: Output depends on both the current state and input.
 Moore machine: Output depends only on the current state.
 Mealy machines generally have fewer states.
 Both can represent the same set of func ons.
21.Ambiguous grammar:
 A CFG where a string can have more than one valid parse tree.
 Example: Grammar genera ng arithme c expressions.
 Causes complica ons in parsing and language analysis.
 Ambiguity is resolved by grammar simplifica ons or using precedence rules.
22.Regular grammar in automata:
 Equivalent to finite automata.
 Produc ons are of the form A → aB or A → a.
 Simplifies the design of finite automata.
 Generates regular languages efficiently.
23.Advantages of DFA minimiza on:
 Reduces the number of states, simplifying the automaton.
 Improves performance and reduces memory usage.
 Retains the same language recogni on capability.
 Ensures the automaton is minimal for the language.
24.Intersec on of languages:
 Combines common strings from L₁ and L₂.
 Example: L₁ = {a, b}, L₂ = {a, c}; L₁ ∩ L₂ = {a}.
 Used to find shared pa erns between languages.
 Regular languages are closed under intersec on.
25.ε-closure with example:
 Set of all states reachable from a given state using ε-moves.
 Example: If δ(q, ε) = {q₁, q₂}, ε-closure(q) = {q, q₁, q₂}.
 Useful in NFA-to-DFA conversion.
 Helps handle non-determinism in automata.
26.Purpose of accept states in automata:
 Indicates the strings that belong to the language.
 The automaton halts in the accept state for valid inputs.
 Necessary for language recogni on.
 Used to define the language of the automaton.
27.Applica ons of formal languages:
 Syntax analysis in programming languages.
 Text pa ern matching (e.g., regular expressions).
 Data compression and transmission protocols.
 Ar ficial intelligence for natural language processing.
28.Language recogni on in DFA:
 DFA reads strings from the input alphabet.
 Transi ons through states based on inputs.
 Halts in accept state for valid strings.
 Rejects strings if no valid transi ons exist.
29.Difference between FA and PDA:
 FA: No stack; recognizes regular languages.
 PDA: Uses a stack; recognizes context-free languages.
 PDA can handle nested structures; FA cannot.
 PDA is more powerful but less efficient than FA.
30.Rela onship between LBA and CFG:
 Linear Bounded Automata (LBA) recognizes context-sensi ve languages.
 CFG generates context-free languages, which are a subset of context-sensi ve
languages.
 LBAs extend finite automata with memory limita ons.
 Provides a bridge between automata theory and formal gramma