Chapter Four

PUSH DOWN AUTOMATA(PDA)

 Push Down Automata(PDA)

 Pushdown automata is a way to implement a CFG in the same

way we design DFA for a regular grammar.
 A DFA can remember a finite amount of information,
 But a PDA can remember an infinite amount of information.
 Pushdown Automata (PDA) is a finite automata (FA) with extra
memory called stack .
 The addition of stack is used to provide a last-in-first-out (LIFO)
memory management capability to Pushdown automata (PDA).
 Pushdown automata can store an unbounded amount of
information on the stack.
 It can access a limited amount of information on the stack.
 A PDA can push an element onto the top of the stack and pop off
an element from the top of the stack
 Cont…

 To read an element into the stack, the top elements must be popped off
and are lost.
 A PDA is more powerful than FA.
 Any language which can be acceptable by FA can also be acceptable by
PDA.
 PDA also accepts a class of language which even cannot be accepted by
FA.
 Thus PDA is much more superior to FA.
 Basically a PDA is :
 " Finite state machine " + " a stack ".
 PDA has three components:
 An input tape: The input tape is divided in many cells or symbols.
 The input head is read-only and may only move from left to right, one
symbol at a time
 Cont…
 Finite control: The finite control has some pointer
which points the current symbol which is to be read.
 Stack: The stack is a structure in which we can push
and remove the items from one end only.
 It has an infinite size.
 In PDA, the stack is used to store the items
temporarily.
 Cont…

 The diagram that shows a transition in a PDA from a state q1, to

state q2, labeled as a, b →c.

 At state q1, if an i/p string is 'a' is encounter and top symbol of the
stack is 'b‘ then we pop 'b' , push 'c' on top of the stack and move to
state q2.
 Formal Definition of PDA

 A PDA can be formally described as 7-tuples (Q, ∑, Γ, δ,

q0, Z, F).
 Q is finite number of states.
 ∑ is input alphabet.
 Γ(gama) is a stack symbol which can be pushed and
popped from the stack
 q0 is the initial state (q0 ϵ Q)
 Z is a start symbol which is in Γ.
 F is set of accepting states (F ϵ Q)
 δ (delta)is mapping function which is used for moving
from current state to next state.
 Terminologies Related to PDA

1. Instantaneous Description(ID)
 ID is an informal notation of how a PDA computes
an input string and make a decision that string is
accepted or rejected.
 The instantaneous description (ID) of a PDA is
represented by a triplet (q, w, s )
q is a current state
 w is unconsumed input

 s is the stack contents

 Cont…

2. Turnstile Notation:
 ⊢sign describes the turnstile notation and represents
one move.
 It is used for connecting pairs of ID’s that represent
one or many moves of a PDA.
 ⊢* sign describes a sequence of moves.
 Example: (p, b,T ) ⊢(q, w, a)
 While taking a transition from p to q, the input
symbol ' b ' is consumed and top of the stack 'T' is
represented with a new string 'a '.
 PDA Acceptance

 There are two different ways to define PDA acceptability.

1. Final State Acceptability
 A PDA accepts a string, after reading the entire string,
the PDA is in final state.
 From the starting state, we can make moves that end up
in a final state with any stack values.
 The stack values are irrelevant as long as we end up in a
final state.
 For a PDA ((Q, ∑, S, δ, q0, I, F) the language accepted by
the set of final sates
 F is L(PDA) ={w | (q0, w, I) ⊢* (q, ɛ, x), q ϵ F} for any
input stack string x
 Cont…

2. Empty Stack Acceptability

 Here a PDA accepts a string , after reading the entire
string, the PDA has emptied its stack.
 For a PDA (Q, ∑, S, δ, q0, I, F) the language
accepted by Empty Stack
 L(PDA) ={w | (q0, w, I) * (q, ɛ, ɛ), q ϵ Q} for any
input string x.
Empty stack
 Cont…

 Example1: Construct PDA that accepts L = {a^nb^m

| n ≥ m, m ≥1}in final state.
 Solution: simple logic at least one b is there and 2 a's
should be there.
 L={aab, aaabb, aaaabbb. ….}
 Cont…

 Now we will simulate this PDA for the input string

"aaabb".
 δ(q0, aaabb, Z0) push a
 δ(q0, aabb, aZ0) push a
 δ(q0, abb, aaZ0) push a
 δ(q0, bb, aaaZ0) push a
 δ(q0, bb, aaaZ0) pop a
 δ(q1, b, aaZ0) pop a
 (q1, ε, aZ0)
 δ(q2, a) Accept
 Cont…

 Example 2 : Design a PDA for accepting a language {a^nb^2n |

n>=1} in empty stack acceptability
 Solution: strings belong to this language are {abb, aabbbb,
aaabbbbbb,….}
 In this language, n number of a's should be followed by 2n number
of b's.
 Hence, we will apply a very simple logic, and that is if we read single
'a', we will push two a's onto the stack.
 As soon as we read 'b' then for every single 'b' only one 'a' should
get popped from the stack
 For a single a push 2 a’s on the top of the stack.
 If you read input b pop 1 a from the top of the stack
 After popping each a for corresponding each b,
the stack is empty
 Cont…

 So, the PDA diagram will be constructed as follows:

 Now we can write the Instantaneous Description(ID)

as follows:
 δ(q0, a, Z0) = (q0, aaZ0)
 δ(q0, a, a) = (q0, aaa)
 δ(q0, b, a) = (q1, ε)
 δ(q1, ε, Z0) = (q2, Z0)
 Cont…

 Now we will simulate this PDA for the input string

"aabbbb".
 δ(q0, aabbbb, Z0)
 δ(q0, abbbb, aaZ0) push 2 a on stack
 δ(q0, bbbb, aaaaZ0) push 2 a on stack
 δ(q1, bbb, aaaZ0) pop 1 a from the stack
 δ(q1, bb, aaZ0) pop 1 a from the stack
 δ(q1, b, aZ0) pop 1 a from the stack
 δ(q1, ε , Z0)
 δ(q2, ε)
Deterministic Push Down Automata (DPDA)

 The DPDA is a variation of pushdown automata that

accepts the deterministic context-free languages.
 A language L(A) is accepted by a DPDA if and only if
there is a single computation from the initial
configuration until an accepting one for all strings
belonging to L(A).
 It is not as powerful as non-deterministic finite
automata.
 That's why it is less in use and used only where
determinism is much easier to implement.
 A PDA is said to be deterministic if its transition function
δ(q, a, X) has at most one member for a Σ U {ε}
 Cont…

 So, for a deterministic PDA, there is at most one

transition possible in any combination of state, input
symbol and stack top.
 Non-Deterministic Push Down Automata (NPDA)

 A non-deterministic PDA is used to generate a

language that a deterministic automata cannot
generate.
 It is more powerful than a deterministic PDA.
 So, a push down automata is allowed to be non-
deterministic.
 Cont…

 A non-deterministic pushdown automaton is a 7-tuple.

 NPDA = (Q, Σ, Γ, δ, q0, Z, F) where
 Q- It is the finite set of states,
 Σ - finite set of input alphabet,
 Γ - finite set of stack alphabet,
 δ - transition function,
 q0 - initial state,
 Z - stack start symbol
 F-Final state
 Example: Construct NPDA for the language L={a b | n>=1} .
n 3n

 Solution: string of the language are w={abbb, aaabbbbbb, …..}

 Pushdown Automata and Context-Free Languages

Context Free Language

 A language is context free if there exists a context free
grammar that can generate it.
 Example1: The language L=a^nb^n, n≥0, is generated by a
grammar whose rule are:
S → aSb
S→ε
 Example2: The language L=wwR, n≥0, is generated by a
grammar whose rule are:
S → aSa
S → bSb
S→ε
 A language is context free if and only if it is accepted by
pushdown automata.
 Properties of Context Free Languages

 Context-free languages are closed under:

1. Union
2. Concatenation
3. Kleene Star operation
1. Union
 Let L 1 and L2 be two context free languages.
 Then L 1 U L2 is also context free language.
 Example
 Let L1 = { a^nb^n , n > 0}. Corresponding grammar G1 will have P:
S1 → aAb|ab
 Let L2 = { c^md^m , m ≥ 0}. Corresponding grammar G2 will have
P: S2 → cBb| ε
 Union of L1 and L2, L = L1 L2 = { a^nb^n } U { c^md^m }.
 The corresponding grammar G will have the additional production S
→ S1 | S2.
 Cont…

2. Concatenation
 If L1 and L2 are context free languages, then L1L2 is also context free
language.
 Example
 Concatenation of the languages L1 and L2, L = L1.L2 = { a^nb^nc^md^m }
 The corresponding grammar G will have the additional production S →
S1S2
3. Kleene Star
 If L is a context free language, then L* is also context free language.
 Example
 Let L1 = { a^nb^n , n ≥ 0}. Corresponding grammar G will have P: S →
aAb| ε
 Kleene Star L1 = { a^nb^n }*
 The corresponding grammar G1 will have additional productions S1 → SS1
|ε
 Context-free languages are not closed under:
 Intersection − If L1 and L2 are context free
languages, then L1 ∩ L2 is not necessarily context
free language.
 Intersection with Regular Language − If L1 is a
regular language and L 2 is a context free language,
then L1∩ L2 is not a context free language.
 Complement − If L1 is a context free language,
then L1' may not be context free.
 Application of Push Down Automata (PDA)

 For designing the parsing phase of a compiler(Syntax

Analysis).
 For implementation of stack applications.
 For evaluating the arithmetic expressions.
 For solving the Tower of Hanoi Problem.
 Exercise(10%)

 Construct PDA for a language L = { a^nb^n : n ≥ 0}

and simulate using PDA for the string aaabbb
acceptance or not.
 Construct PDA for language L = {a^2nb^m : n ≥ 0,
m ≥ 0} and simulate using PDA for the string aab
acceptance or not.
 Construct PDA for language L = {a^nb^mc^n : n ≥ 1,
m ≥ 1} and simulate using PDA for the string
aabbbcc acceptance or not.
 Design PDA for Palindrome strings and simulate for
the string abaaba
END OF THE CHAPTER