Deterministic Finite Automata

DFA

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 Automata concepts
Recap

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 Alphabets
An alphabet is any finite set of
symbols.
Examples: ASCII, Unicode, {0,1}
(binary alphabet ), {a,b,c}.

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 Strings
The set of strings over an alphabet Σ is
the set of lists, each element of which is
a member of Σ.
 Strings shown with no commas, e.g., abc.
Σ* denotes this set of strings.
ε stands for the empty string (string of
length 0).

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 Example: Strings
{0,1}* = {ε, 0, 1, 00, 01, 10, 11, 000,
001, . . . }
Subtlety: 0 as a string, 0 as a symbol
look the same.
 Context determines the type.

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 Languages
A language is a subset of Σ* for some
alphabet Σ.
Example: The set of strings of 0’s and
1’s with no two consecutive 1’s.
L = {ε, 0, 1, 00, 01, 10, 000, 001, 010,
100, 101, 0000, 0001, 0010, 0100,
0101, 1000, 1001, 1010, . . . }

Hmm… 1 of length 0, 2 of length 1, 3, of length 2, 5 of length

3, 8 of length 4. I wonder how many of length 5? 6
Deterministic Finite Automata
 A formalism for defining languages,
consisting of:
1. A finite set of states (Q, typically).
2. An input alphabet (Σ, typically).
3. A transition function (δ, typically).
4. A start state (q0, in Q, typically).
5. A set of final states (F ⊆ Q, typically).
 “Final” and “accepting” are synonyms.
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 The Transition Function
Takes two arguments: a state and an
input symbol.
δ(q, a) = the state that the DFA goes
to when it is in state q and input a is
received.

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Graph Representation of DFA’s
Nodes = states.
Arcs represent transition function.
 Arc from state p to state q labeled by all
those input symbols that have transitions
from p to q.
Arrow labeled “Start” to the start state.
Final states indicated by double circles.

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 Example: Graph of a DFA
Accepts all strings without two consecutive 1’s.

0 0,1
1 1
A B C

Start 0
Previous Previous Consecutive
string OK, String OK, 1’s have
does not ends in a been seen.
end in 1. single 1.
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 Alternative Representation:
Transition Table
Final states
starred Columns =
0 1 input symbols
* A A B
Arrow for * B A C
start state C C C

Rows = states

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 Alternative Representation:
Transition Function
We describe the effect of a string of
inputs on a DFA by extending δ to a
state and a string.
Induction on length of string.
Basis: δ(q, ε) = q
Induction: δ(q,wa) = δ(δ(q,w),a)
 w is a string; a is an input symbol.

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 Extended δ: Intuition
Convention:
 … w, x, y, x are strings.
 a, b, c,… are single symbols.
Extended δ is computed for state q and
inputs a1a2…an by following a path in
the transition graph, starting at q and
selecting the arcs with labels a1, a2,…,an
in turn.
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Example: Extended Delta
0 1
A A B
B A C
C C C

δ(B,011) = δ(δ(B,01),1) = δ(δ(δ(B,0),1),1) =

δ(δ(A,1),1) = δ(B,1) = C

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 Delta-hat
In book, the extended δ has a “hat” to
distinguish it from δ itself.
Not needed, because both agree when
the string is a single symbol.
˄ ˄
δ(q, a) = δ(δ(q, ε), a) = δ(q, a)

Extended deltas

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 Language of a DFA
Automata of all kinds define languages.
If A is an automaton, L(A) is its
language.
For a DFA A, L(A) is the set of strings
labeling paths from the start state to a
final state.
Formally: L(A) = the set of strings w
such that δ(q0, w) is in F.
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 Example 1
String 101 is in the language of the DFA below.
Start at A.

0 0,1
1 1
A B C

Start 0

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 Example 1 – Concluded
The language of our example DFA is:
{w | w is in {0,1}* and w does not have
two consecutive 1’s}

Such that… These conditions

about w are true.
Read a set former as
“The set of strings w…
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Example 2

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Example 2

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Example 3

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Example 3

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 Regular Languages
A language L is regular if it is the
language accepted by some DFA.
 Note: the DFA must accept only the strings
in L, no others.
Some languages are not regular.
 Intuitively, regular languages “cannot
count” to arbitrarily high integers.

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Example: A Nonregular Language
L1 = {0n1n | n ≥ 1}
Note: ai is conventional for i a’s.
 Thus, 04 = 0000, e.g.
Read: “The set of strings consisting of
n 0’s followed by n 1’s, such that n is at
least 1.
Thus, L1 = {01, 0011, 000111,…}
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 Another Example
L2 = {w | w in {(, )}* and w is balanced }
 Note: alphabet consists of the parenthesis
symbols ’(’ and ’)’.
 Balanced parens are those that can appear
in an arithmetic expression.
• E.g.: (), ()(), (()), (()()),…

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 But Many Languages are
Regular
Regular Languages can be described in
many ways, e.g., regular expressions.
They appear in many contexts and
have many useful properties.
Example: the strings that represent
floating point numbers in your favorite
language is a regular language.

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Example: A Regular Language
L3 = { w | w in {0,1}* and w, viewed as a
binary integer is divisible by 23}
The DFA:
 23 states, named 0, 1,…,22.
 Correspond to the 23 remainders of an
integer divided by 23.
 Start and only final state is 0.

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 Transitions of the DFA for L3
If string w represents integer i, then
assume δ(0, w) = i%23.
Then w0 represents integer 2i, so we
want δ(i%23, 0) = (2i)%23.
Similarly: w1 represents 2i+1, so we
want δ(i%23, 1) = (2i+1)%23.
Example: δ(15,0) = 30%23 = 7;
δ(11,1) = 23%23 = 0. Key idea: design a DFA
by figuring out what
each state needs to
remember about the 28past.
 Another Example
L4 = { w | w in {0,1}* and w, viewed as
the reverse of a binary integer is
divisible by 23}
Example: 01110100 is in L4, because its
reverse, 00101110 is 46 in binary.
Hard to construct the DFA.
But theorem says the reverse of a
regular language is also regular.
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