CS-3613 TAFL

Deterministic Finite Automata

Instructor: Hashim Ayub

Book: Prof. Sipser-MIT

Slides: Prof. Busch - LSU

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 Deterministic Finite Automata
(DFA)
• In DFA, given current state, we know what
next state will be
• In other words, the exact state to which the
machine moves can be determined.
• It has only one unique state, no choices and
randomness 1
–A B

• Easy and simple to design 1

0 0 0 0
1
C D+
1
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 Formal Definition
Deterministic Finite Automaton (DFA)
𝑀 =( 𝑄 , Σ , 𝛿 ,𝑞 0 , 𝐹 )

𝑄 : set of states
Σ : input alphabet 𝜆∉Σ
𝛿 : transition function
𝑞 0 : initial state
𝐹 : set of accepting states
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Deterministic Finite Automaton (DFA)

Input Tape
String
Output
“Accept”
Finite or
Automaton “Reject”

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 Transition Graph

𝑄= {𝑞 0 ,𝑞 1 ,𝑞 2 , 𝑞 3 , 𝑞 4 , 𝑞5 }
𝑎,𝑏
Σ ={ 𝑎 , 𝑏 }
𝑞5
𝑏
𝑎,𝑏
𝑎 𝑎 𝑏
𝑞0 𝑎 𝑞1 𝑏 𝑞 2 𝑏 𝑞 3 𝑎 𝑞4

initial accepting
state state
transition
state
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 Simulator to try other Examples
at Home: jFAST
jFAST is a simple finite automata (FA)
graphical simulation utility; it is
designed to feature simple mechanisms
for creating, editing, and simulating FA.
jFAST is ideal for use by students,
instructors, and self-guided explorers
alike.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/jfast-fsm
-sim/

Prof. Busch - LSU 6

Simulator to try other Examples
at Home: jFAST

Prof. Busch - LSU 7

 Input Alphabet Σ

𝜆 ∉ Σ:the input alphabet never contains𝜆

Example
Σ ={ 𝑎 ,𝑏 } 𝑎,𝑏

𝑞5
𝑏 𝑎,𝑏
𝑎 𝑎 𝑏
𝑞0 𝑎 𝑞1 𝑏 𝑞 2 𝑏 𝑞 3 𝑎 𝑞4

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 Initial State 𝑞 0

Example
𝑎,𝑏

𝑞5
𝑏
𝑎,𝑏
𝑎 𝑎 𝑏
𝑞0 𝑎 𝑞1 𝑏 𝑞 2 𝑏 𝑞 3 𝑎 𝑞4

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Set of Accepting States 𝐹 ⊆𝑄

Example
𝐹 = { 𝑞4 } 𝑎,𝑏

𝑞5
𝑏
𝑎,𝑏
𝑎 𝑎 𝑏
𝑞0 𝑎 𝑞1 𝑏 𝑞 2 𝑏 𝑞 3 𝑎 𝑞4

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Transition Function 𝛿: 𝑄 × Σ→ 𝑄

′
𝛿(𝑞 , 𝑥)=𝑞
𝑥 ′
𝑞 𝑞

Describes the result of a transition

from state 𝑞 with symbol 𝑥

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Example:
𝛿 ( 𝑞0 , 𝑎 )=𝑞 1

𝑎,𝑏

𝑞5
𝑏 𝑎,𝑏
𝑎 𝑎 𝑏
𝑞0 𝑎 𝑞1 𝑏 𝑞 2 𝑏 𝑞 3 𝑎 𝑞4

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 𝛿 ( 𝑞0 , 𝑏 ) =𝑞5

𝑎,𝑏

𝑞5
𝑏 𝑎,𝑏
𝑎 𝑎 𝑏
𝑞0 𝑎 𝑞1 𝑏 𝑞 2 𝑏 𝑞 3 𝑎 𝑞4

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 𝛿 ( 𝑞2 , 𝑏 ) =𝑞3

𝑎,𝑏

𝑞5
𝑏 𝑎,𝑏
𝑎 𝑎 𝑏
𝑞0 𝑎 𝑞1 𝑏 𝑞 2 𝑏 𝑞 3 𝑎 𝑞4

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Transition Table for 𝛿

symbols
𝛿 𝑎 𝑏
𝑞0 𝑞1 𝑞5
𝑞1 𝑞5 𝑞2
states

𝑞2 𝑞5 𝑞3
𝑎,𝑏
𝑞3 𝑞4 𝑞5
𝑞4 𝑞5 𝑞5
𝑞5
𝑞5 𝑞5 𝑞5 𝑎,𝑏
𝑏 𝑎 𝑎 𝑏
𝑞0 𝑎 𝑞1 𝑏 𝑞 2 𝑏 𝑞 3 𝑎 𝑞4
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Extended Transition Function
∗ ∗
𝛿 :𝑄 × Σ → 𝑄

∗ ′
𝛿 (𝑞 ,𝑤)=𝑞

Describes the resulting state

after scanning string 𝑤 from state𝑞

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 ∗
Example: 𝛿 ( 𝑞 0 ,𝑎𝑏 ) =𝑞 2

𝑎,𝑏

𝑞5
𝑏 𝑎,𝑏
𝑎 𝑎 𝑏
𝑞0 𝑎 𝑞1 𝑏 𝑞 2 𝑏 𝑞 3 𝑎 𝑞4
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 ∗
𝛿 ( 𝑞 0 ,𝑎𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑎𝑎 ) =𝑞5

𝑎,𝑏

𝑞5
𝑏 𝑎,𝑏
𝑎 𝑎 𝑏
𝑞0 𝑎 𝑞1 𝑏 𝑞 2 𝑏 𝑞 3 𝑎 𝑞4

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 ∗
𝛿 ( 𝑞 1 , 𝑏𝑏𝑎 ) =𝑞 4

𝑎,𝑏

𝑞5
𝑏 𝑎,𝑏
𝑎 𝑎 𝑏
𝑞0 𝑎 𝑞1 𝑏 𝑞 2 𝑏 𝑞 3 𝑎 𝑞4

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Special case:

for any state 𝑞

∗
𝛿 ( 𝑞, 𝜆 ) =𝑞

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 ∗ ′
In general: 𝛿 ( 𝑞, 𝑤 )=𝑞
implies that there is a walk of transitions

𝑤=𝜎 1 𝜎 2 ⋯ 𝜎 𝑘
𝜎1 𝜎2 𝜎𝑘
′
𝑞 𝑞
states may be repeated

𝑤 ′
𝑞 𝑞
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 Language Accepted by DFA
Language L accepted by DFA machine M
is denoted as 𝐿 ( 𝑀 ) and contains all the strings
accepted by
𝑀
We also say that 𝑀 recognizes𝐿 ( 𝑀 )
𝑀 =( 𝑄 , Σ , 𝛿 ,𝑞 0 , 𝐹 )

• A word w is a string of letters from alphabets () in a linear

sequence. eg. 0110 that is taken from .
• w denotes the length of word w.

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For a DFA 𝑀 =( 𝑄 , Σ , 𝛿 ,𝑞 0 , 𝐹 )

𝑀
Language accepted by :

𝐿 ( 𝑀 ) = {𝑤 ∈ Σ : 𝛿 ( 𝑞 0 , 𝑤 ) ∈ 𝐹 }
∗ ∗

𝑤
𝑞0 ′
𝑞 ′
𝑞 ∈𝐹

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Language rejected by𝑀 :

𝐿 ( 𝑀 ) = {𝑤 ∈ Σ : 𝛿 ( 𝑞 0 , 𝑤 ) ∉ 𝐹 }
∗ ∗

𝑤
𝑞0 𝑞
′ ′
𝑞 ∉𝐹

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 DFA Examples
Σ={𝑎, 𝑏}
𝑎,𝑏
𝑎,𝑏

𝑞0 𝑞0

∗
𝐿(𝑀)={} 𝐿(𝑀)=Σ
Empty language All strings
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 Σ={𝑎, 𝑏}
𝐿 ( 𝑀=) { all strings with prefix 𝑎𝑏 }
𝑎,𝑏

𝑞0 𝑎 𝑞1 𝑏 𝑞2

𝑏 𝑎 accept

𝑞3 𝑎,𝑏

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𝐿 ( 𝑀=
) { all binary strings containing
substring 001 }

1 0
0 ,1

𝜆 0 1
0 00 001

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𝐿(𝑀)={ 𝑎𝑤𝑎:𝑤 ∈ { 𝑎 ,𝑏 } }
∗

𝑎
𝑏

𝑞0 𝑎 𝑞2 𝑞3

𝑏 𝑎

𝑞4

𝑎,𝑏
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