SWE 312- Lecture 02

SWE 312: Theory of Computing

Fatama Binta Rafiq (FBR)

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 Objectives:
 It comprises the fundamental mathematical properties of
computer hardware, software and certain application .
 The subject has obvious connections with engineering
practice, and, as in many sciences.
 Theory has proved its value to other parts of computer
science. Many technologists and companies grew up out of
the work of theorists.
 It deals with the definitions and properties of mathematical
models of computation.

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 Learning Outcome:
 At the end of the course student will able to learn Finite
Automata, Deterministic Finite Automata (DFA); Non-
deterministic Finite Automata (NFA), Context free
languages; Context free grammars; Turing Machines and
its functionality.
 Finite automata, is used in text processing, compilers, and
hardware design.
 Another model, called the context-free grammar, is used in
programming languages and artificial intelligence.

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 Course Content:
Introduction
 Finite Automata
 Deterministic Finite Automata (DFA)
 Non-deterministic Finite Automata (NFA)
 Conversion of NFA to DFA
 Regular Expression
 Pushdown Automata
 Context free languages

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 Course Content:
Context free grammars
Turing Machines:
basic machines
configuration
computing with Turing machines
combining Turing machines

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 Resources:
Text Book:
SIPSER, M. Introduction to the Theory of
Computation, 2nd ed. Course Technology, 2005.
LEWIS, H. R., AND PAPADIMITRIOU, C. H.
Elements of the Theory of Computation, 2nd ed.
Pearson Education Asia, 2001.
HOPCROFT, J. E., MOTWANI, R., AND ULLMAN,
J. D. Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages,
and Computation, 3rd ed.

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 Topics:
Introduction
Automata Theory
Symbols and alphabet
Language
Sets
Function
Implication
Valid/invalid computation

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 Theory of Computation
(ToC):
 What is Computation?
 Ans: Computation is calculation, solving, making
decision or any task done by computer/calculator/ any
machine.
 What is Theory?
 Ans: The term Theory defines capabilities, limitations
of those machines.
 Purpose of the Theory of Computation:
“Develop formal mathematical models of computation
that reflect real-world computers.”

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 Automata Theory:
Automata theory deals with the definitions and
properties of mathematical models of computation.
These models play a role in several applied areas of
computer science.
Finite automata, is used in text processing, compilers,
and hardware design.
Another model, called the context-free grammar, is used
in programming languages and artificial intelligence.
Automata theory is an excellent place to begin the study
of the theory of computation.

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 Mathematical Terminology:
 Symbol:
Symbol is the basic building block of ToC.
 Example: Can be anything like: a,b,c,A,B,Z,0,1,…etc
 Alphabet:
An alphabet is a finite set of symbols.
We use the symbol ∑ (sigma) to denote an alphabet.
 Examples:
∑ = {0,1} : Binary alphabet
∑ = {A~Z, 0~9} : Alphanumeric alphabet
∑ = {a,b,c, ….,z} : Alphabet of small letters

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 Mathematical Terminology:
 String:
A string or word is a finite sequence/group of symbols
chosen from the alphabet (∑)
 Examples:
01011 = is a string from the binary alphabet ∑{0,1}
abacbc = is a string from the alphabet ∑{a, b, c}
3786 = is a string over {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}
Empty string is the string with no symbols, denoted by
 (epsilon) or λ
Length of a string, denoted by |w|, is equal to the
number of symbols/characters in the string

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 Mathematical Terminology:
 Example:
w = classroom |w| = 9
w = 010100 |w| = 6
w= |w| = 0
The position of a symbol in a string is denoted by (w)
 Example: w = classroom
w(3) = a, w(4) = s, w(5) = s
 Concatenation of strings:
x = abc, y = pqr
Concatenation of x and y:
x◦y (or xy) = abcpqr
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 Mathematical Terminology:
 Power of Alphabet:
If ∑ is an alphabet, then, ∑k = is the set of all
strings of length k.
Example: Let, ∑ = {0,1}, then

 0  {}
1  {0,1}
 2  {00,01,10,11}
3   2
 {00,01,10,11}{0,1}  ...
 {000,001,010,011,100,101,110,111}
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 Mathematical Terminology:
 Language:
 Language is a set of strings chosen from the alphabet ∑
 Language L could be finite or infinite
 Example: Suppose ∑ = { a,b }
L1 = Set of all strings of length 2
= { aa, ab, ba, bb } [Finite]
L2 = Set of all strings of length 3
= { aaa, aab, aba, abb, baa, bab, bba, bbb }[Finite]

L3 = Set of all strings where each string starts with “a”

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 Mathematical Terminology:
 Set:
A set is a collection of elements.
To indicate that x is an element of the set S, we write x ∈S
The statement that x is not in S is written as x ∉ S.
 Example:
The set of all natural numbers 0,1,2.. is denoted by
N = {0,1,2,3,... }
When the need arises, we use more explicit notation, in
which we write S = { i ≥ 0, i is even };We read this as “S is
the set of all i, such that i is greater than zero, and i is even.“

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 Mathematical Terminology:
SEQUENCES AND TUPLES:
A sequence of objects is a list of these objects in
some order.
For example, the sequence 7, 21, 57 would be
written
(7, 21, 57)
Finite sequences often are called tuples.
A sequence with k elements is a k-tuple. Thus (7,21,
57) is a 3 -tuple. A 2-tuple is also called a pair.

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 Mathematical Terminology:
Cartesian product or cross product:
If A and B are two sets, the Cartesian
product or cross product of A and B, written
AxB
If A = {1, 2} and B {x, y, z},
A x B = { (1, x), (1, y), (1, z), (2, x), (2, y),
(2, z) }.

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 Implication:
So the question is where we use those theorem, idea for
computation?
Just consider a simple C Programming language.
# void main ()
{
int a,b;
etc;
etc;
}

C programming language = Set of all “valid” program

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 Valid / Invalid Computation:
 Let us consider an example, where a string is given
and have to calculate that the string is present in
the language or not ?
 Given, L is a Finite language;
∑ = { a, b }
L1 = { aa, ab, ba, bb }
String, S = aaa
Here, S = aaa is not present in the language and we can
calculate this and thus is invalid operation for
computation.

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 Valid / Invalid Computation:
 Let us consider another example, where a string is
given and have to calculate that the string is
present in the language or not ?
 Given, L is a infinite language;
∑ = { a, b }
L2 = { a, aa, aaa, ab, aab, abb,…. }
String, S = baba
Here, S = baba will not be present in the language So
this is an example of invalid operation for
computation.

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 Thank You !!!
Any Questions ???

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