CHAPTER TWO

FINITE AUTOMATA (FA)

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 Deterministic Finite Automata
A deterministic finite automaton (DFA) is a
5-tuple (Q, , , q0, F) where
Q is a finite set of states
 is an input alphabet
: Q ×  → Q is a transition function
q0  Q is the initial state
F  Q is a set of accepting states (or final
states).
In diagrams, the accepting states will be
denoted by double loops
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 Language of a DFA
The language of a DFA (Q, , , q0, F) is the set of
all strings over  that, starting from q0 and
following the transitions as the string is read left
to right, will reach some accepting state.
A deterministic finite automaton is a special case of an
NFA
 No state has an ε-transition
 For each state Q and input symbol a there is at most
one edge labeled a leaving S

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 Transition Graph
Abba -Finite Accepter a, b

q5
a a, b
b a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

initial final
state state
transition
state “accept”
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 Initial Configuration
Input String
a b b a

a, b

q5
a a, b
b a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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 Reading the Input

a b b a

a, b

q5
a a, b
b a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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a b b a

a, b

q5
a a, b
b a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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a b b a

a, b

q5
a a, b
b a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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a b b a

a, b

q5
a a, b
b a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

9
a b b a

a, b

q5
a a, b
b a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

Output: “accept”
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 Rejection

a b a

a, b

q5
a a, b
b a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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a b a

a, b

q5
a a, b
b a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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a b a

a, b

q5
a a, b
b a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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a b a

a, b

q5
a a, b
b a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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a b a

a, b
Output:
q5 “reject”
a a, b
b a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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 Another Example

a a b

a a,b

q0 b q1 a, b q2

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a a b

a a,b

q0 b q1 a, b q2

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a a b

a a,b

q0 b q1 a, b q2

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a a b

a a,b

q0 b q1 a, b q2

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a a b

a a,b
Output: “accept”

q0 b q1 a, b q2

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 Rejection

b a b

a a,b

q0 b q1 a, b q2

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b a b

a a,b

q0 b q1 a, b q2

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b a b

a a,b

q0 b q1 a, b q2

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b a b

a a,b

q0 b q1 a, b q2

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b a b

a a,b

q0 b q1 a, b q2

Output: “reject”
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 Input Aplhabet 

   a, b

a, b

q5
b a a, b
a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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 Set of States Q
Q   q0 , q1, q2 , q3 , q4 , q5 

a, b

q5
a a, b
b a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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 Initial State q0

a, b

q5
a a, b
b a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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 Set of Final States F

F   q4 

a, b

q5
a a, b
b a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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 Transition Function 

 :Q  Q

a, b

q5
b a a, b
a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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   q0 , a   q1

a, b

q5
b a a, b
a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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   q0 , b   q5

a, b

q5
b a a, b
a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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   q2 , b   q3

a, b

q5
b a a, b
a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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 Transition Function 
 a b
q0 q1 q5
q1 q5 q2
q2 q2 q3
q3 q4 q5 a, b
q4 q5 q5
q5 q5 q5 q5
b a a, b
a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4
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Extended Transition Function  *

 * : Q  *  Q

a, b

q5
b a a, b
a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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  *  q0 , ab   q2

a, b

q5
b a a, b
a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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  *  q0 , abba   q4

a, b

q5
b a a, b
a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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  *  q0 , abbbaa   q5

a, b

q5
b a a, b
a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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Observation: There is a walk from q0 to q5
with label abbbaa

 *  q0 , abbbaa   q5
a, b

q5
b a a, b
a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4

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 Recursive Definition

 *  q,    q
 *  q, wa    ( * (q, w), a )
a, b

q5
b a a, b
a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4
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 *  q0 , ab  
   * (q0 , a ), b  
     *  q0 ,  , a , b  
    q0 , a , b  
  q1 , b  
q2 a, b

q5
b a a, b
a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4
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 Languages Accepted by DFAs
Take DFA M

Definition:
The language L M  contains
all input strings accepted by M

L M  = { strings that drive M to a final state}

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 Example
L M    abba M

a, b

q5
b a a, b
a b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4
accept
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 Another Example
L M     , ab, abba M

a, b

q5
b a a a, b
b
q0 a q1 b q2 b q3 a q4
accept accept accept
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 Formally

For a DFA M   Q, ,  , q0 , F 

Language accepted by M :
L M    w  * :  *  q0 , w  F 

alphabet transition initial final

L M    w  * :  *  q0 , w  F 

Language rejected by M :

L M    w  * :  *  q0 , w  F 

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 More Examples

L M   {a b : n  0}
n

a a,b

q0 b q1 a, b q2

accept trap state

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L M  = { all substrings with prefix ab }
a, b

q0 a q1 b q2

b a accept

q3 a, b
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Example’s on DFA

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Transition table

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51
Con…

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 questions
1.Construct a DFA that accepts the language

L = {010, 1} (  = {0, 1} )

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 Con--
2.Construct a DFA over alphabet {0, 1} that accepts all strings that
end in 101.
3. Construct a DFA which accepts set of all strings over {a,b} that
starts with a string abb
4.Construct a DFA which accepts set of all strings over {0,1}.
5. Construct a DFA which accepts a set of all strings over {a,b} of the
form a3bwa3 where w is any string.

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Non-Deterministic Finite Automata (NFA)
 Non determinism means a choice of moves for an
automaton. Rather than prescribing a, unique
move in each satiation.
 it allows a set of possible moves.

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 Con..
 In non deterministic finite accepter the range of
transition function is the power set of 2 the
power of Q,
 so that its value is not a single element of Q, but
a subset of it.
 This subset defines the set of all possible states
that can be reached by the transition.
 For examples:

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 Non-Deterministic Finite Automata
Definition
An NFA M consists of five tuples: ( Σ,S, T, S0, F)
A set of input symbols Σ, the input alphabet
a finite set of states S,
a transition function T: S × (Σ U { ε}) -> S (next state),
a start state S0 from S, and
a set of accepting/final states F from S.

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 NFA…
It is a finite automata which has choice of
edges
The same symbol can label edges from one state to several
different states.

An edge may be labeled by ε, the empty string

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 Transition Graph
The transition graph for an NFA recognizing the language
of regular expression (a|b)*abb
all strings of a's and b's ending in the
particular string abb
a

start a b b
0 1 2 3

b S={0,1,2,3}
Σ={a,b}
S0=0
F={3}
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 Transition Table
The mapping T of an NFA can be
represented in a transition table
State Input Input Input
a b ε
0 {0,1} {0} ø
T(0,a) = {0,1}
T(0,b) = {0} 1 ø {2} ø
T(1,b) = {2}
2 ø {3} ø
T(2,b) = {3}
3 ø ø ø

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 Equivalence of NFA and DFA
• Since a DFA is in essence a restricted kind of NFA
• it is clear that any language is accepted by a DFA is also accepted by
some NFA.
• But the converse is not so obvious. However finding a DFA equivalent
to given NFA can be hard, there are some DFA equivalent to NFA.
• Two finite automata M and M’ are said to be equivalent if they accept
the same language. i.e L(M)=L(M’).
• Since every DFA can be treated as an NFA, one side is obvious. The
converse, given an NFA there exist an equivalent an equivalent DFA.
• Theorem2.1: Let L be the language accepted by a nondeterministic
finite automata N=(QN , Ʃ, δN , q0, FN). Then there exists
deterministic finite automata D=(QD , Ʃ, δD, q0, FD) such that
L(N)=L(D).

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 Procedure of NFA to DFA
1. Create a graph D with a vertex {q0}. Identify this vertex as the
initial vertex.
2. Repeat the following steps until no more edges are missing
 Take any vertex { q0, q1, q2 ….} of D that has no outgoing edge for some a ϵ Ʃ
Compute δ*(q0,a), δ*(q1,a), δ*(q2,a),…………. δ*(qn,a).
 If δ*(q0,a) U δ*(q1,a) U δ*(q2,a) U δ*(qn, a)={q0, q1, q2, qn } Create a vertex for
graph D labelled {q0, q1, q2, qn } if it does not already exist. Add to graph D an
edge from {q0, q1, qn} and labelled it with a.
3. Every state of graph D whose labelled contains any qf ϵFN is
identified as a final vertex.
4. If N accepted Ɛ, the vertex in graph D is also made a final vertex.

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 Cont…
 Example6: Convert the given NFA to an equivalent DFA, using the
above converting procedure.

• Firstly figure out all the transitions start from q0 as initial state.
• δ({q0}, a) = { q1, q2} ……………….. Using a and Ɛ transitions.
• δ({q0}, b) = Ø
• δ({q1,q2}, a) = { q1, q2} ……………………. Using a and Ɛ transitions.
• δ({q1,q2}, b) = { q0}. There fore the result is

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