Chapter 6

Turing Machines

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 Turing Machines
Turing machines (TMs) were introduced
by Alan Turing in 1936

They are more powerful than both

finite automata and pushdown automata.
In fact, they are as powerful as any
computer we have ever built.

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 The Language Hierarchy

n n n ?
a b c
Context-Free Languages
n n
a b
Regular Languages
a* a *b *
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 Languages accepted by
Turing Machines
n n n
a b c
Context-Free Languages
n n
a b
Regular Languages
a* a *b *
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 Basic design of Turing machine
Tape
......

Read-Write head
Control Unit

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 The Tape

No boundaries -- infinite length

......

Read-Write head

The head moves Left or Right

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 ......

Read-Write head

The head at each time step:

1. Reads a symbol
2. Writes a symbol
3. Moves Left or Right
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TM instructions (transition functions)
Each Turing machine instruction contains the
following five parts:
The current machine state.
A tape symbol read from the current tape
cell.
A tape symbol to write into the current tape
cell.
The next machine state.
A direction for the tape head to move.

Two inputs, three outputs: T(i, a) = (b, j, R)

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Example:
Time 0
a b a c ......

Time 1
a b k c ......

1. Reads a
2. Writes k
3. Moves Left
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 Time 1
a b k c ......

Time 2
a f k c ......

1. Reads b
2. Writes f
3. Moves Right
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 The Input String

Input string Blank symbol

a b a c ......

head

Head starts at the leftmost position

of the input string
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 Input string Blank symbol

a b a c ......

head

Remark: the input string is never empty

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 States & Transitions

Read Write
Move Left

(a , b, L )
q1 q2

Move Right
(a, b, R)
q1 q2
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Example:
Time 1
a b a c ......

q1
current state

(a, b, R)
q1 q2
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 Time 1
a b a c ......

q1

Time 2
a b b c ......

q2
(a, b, R)
q1 q2
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Example:
Time 1
a b a c ......

q1

Time 2
a b b c ......

q2
( a , b, L )
q1 q2
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Example:
Time 1
a b a c ......

q1

Time 2
a b b c g ......

q2
( ,g, R)
q1 q2
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 Determinism
Turing Machines are deterministic

Allowed Not Allowed

(a, b, R) q2 (a, b, R) q2

q1 q1
(b , d , L ) q3 ( a, d , L ) q3

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 Partial Transition Function
Example:

a b a c ......

q1

(a, b, R) q2 Allowed:

q1 No transition
for input symbol c
(b , d , L ) q3
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 Halting

The machine halts if it arrives at the

accepting states or if there are
no possible transitions to follow.

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Example:

a b a c ......

q1

(a, b, R) q2
No possible transition
q1
HALT!!!
(b , d , L ) q3
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 Final States

q1 q2 Allowed

q1 q2 Not Allowed

• Final states have no outgoing transitions

• In a final state the machine halts

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 Acceptance

If machine halts
Accept Input
in a final state

If machine halts
in a non-final state
Reject Input or
If machine enters
an infinite loop
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 Turing Machine Example

A Turing machine that accepts the language:

aa *

(a, a, R )

( , ,L)
q0 q1

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Time 0
a a a

q0

(a, a, R )

( , ,L)
q0 q1

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Time 1
a a a

q0

(a, a, R )

( , ,L)
q0 q1

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Time 2

a a a

q0

(a, a, R )

( , ,L)
q0 q1

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Time 3

a a a

q0

(a, a, R )

( , ,L)
q0 q1

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Time 4

a a a

q1

(a, a, R )
Halt & Accept

( , ,L)
q0 q1

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Rejection Example

Time 0
a b a

q0

(a, a, R )

( , ,L)
q0 q1
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Time 1
a b a

q0
No possible Transition
Halt & Reject
(a, a, R )

( , ,L)
q0 q1
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 Infinite Loop Example
A Turing machine
for language aa * b( a  b) *

(b , b , L )
(a, a, R )

( , ,L)
q0 q1

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Time 0 a b a

q0

(b , b , L )
(a, a, R )

q0 ( , ,L) q1

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Time 1
a b a

q0

(b , b , L )
(a, a, R )

q0 ( , ,L) q1

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Time 2
a b a

q0

(b , b , L )
(a, a, R )

q0 ( , ,L) q1

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Time 2 a b a
q0
Time 3 a b a
q0
Time 4 a b a
q0

Time 5 a b a
q0
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Because of the infinite loop:

•The final state cannot be reached

•The machine never halts

•The input is not accepted

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Formal Definitions
for
Turing Machines

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Turing Machine:

Input Tape
alphabet alphabet
States

M  (Q, , ,  , q0 , qacc , qrej )

Transition
Reject state
function

Initial Accept state

state
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 Transition Function

(a, a, R )
q1 q2

 (q1, a )  (q2 , b, R)

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 Transition Function

(c , d , L )
q1 q2

 (q1, c)  (q2 , d , L)

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Example : Consider aTuring machine with following
transitions:

• (q0 , a ) = (q1 , a, R )
• (q0 , b ) = (q1 , b, R )
• (q0, ) = (q1 , , R )
• (q1 , a ) = (q0 , a, L )
• (q1 , b ) = (q0 , b, L )
• (q1 , ) = (q0 , , R )

What does this Turing machine do?

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 Configuration

c a b a

q1

Instantaneous description: ca q1 ba

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 TM configurations
• The configuration of a Turing machine is
the current setting i.e.
– Current state These three items are a
configuration of the TM
– Current tape contents
– Current head location
• Configurations are represented in a special way:
– When the TM is in state q, and
– The contents of the tape is two strings uv, and
– The head is on the leftmost position of string v
– Then we represent this configuration as “u q v ”- this
string is the Instantaneous Description (ID).

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 Configurations of TMs
• Example: 1011q7011111

q7

... 1011011111 □ □ □ ...

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 Instantaneous Descriptions of a
Turing Machine

 Initially, a TM has a tape consisting

of a string of input symbols
surrounded by an infinity of blanks in
both directions.

 The TM is in the start state, and the

head is at the leftmost input symbol.

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 Standard Turing Machine

The machine we described is the standard:

• Deterministic

• Infinite tape in one directions

•Tape is the input/output file

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Construction of Turing Machines

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 Example I
• Given: w is a bitstring
• Construct TM that accepts the language
L ={w: w contains at least two 0s}

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Example I (Cont’d)
1  1, R 1  1, R

0  0, R
q0 q3
0  0, R

q4

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 Example II
• Construct TM that accepts the
language
L= {anbn : n  1 }

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 Design
• Check first symbol is an a
– If not, then reject
– If so, replace with X (to mean counted) and begin
recursion
• Move to the right all the way to the first unread
b, and mark it with Y
• Move back (to the left) all the way to the last
marked X, and then move one position to the
right.
• If the next position is a, then go to step 2.
• Else move all the way to the right to ensure there
are no excess bs. If not move right to the next
blank symbol and stop & accept.
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 Example II
n n
Turing machine for the language {a b }

q4 y  y, R y  y, L
y  y, R a  a, R a  a, L
,L
y  y, R a  x, R b  y, L
q3 q0 q1 q2
x  x, R
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 Time 0 a a b b

q0

q4 y  y, R y  y, L
y  y, R a  a, R a  a, L
,L

y  y, R a  x, R b  y, L
q3 q0 q1 q2
x  x, R
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 Time 1 x a b b

q1

q4 y  y, R y  y, L
y  y, R a  a, R a  a, L
,L

y  y, R a  x, R b  y, L
q3 q0 q1 q2
x  x, R
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 Time 2 x a b b

q1

q4 y  y, R y  y, L
y  y, R a  a, R a  a, L
,L

y  y, R a  x, R b  y, L
q3 q0 q1 q2
x  x, R
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 Time 3
x a y b

q2

q4 y  y, R y  y, L
y  y, R a  a, R a  a, L
,L

y  y, R a  x, R b  y, L
q3 q0 q1 q2
x  x, R
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 Time 4
x a y b

q2

q4 y  y, R y  y, L
y  y, R a  a, R a  a, L
,L

y  y, R a  x, R b  y, L
q3 q0 q1 q2
x  x, R
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 Time 5 x a y b

q0

q4 y  y, R y  y, L
y  y, R a  a, R a  a, L
,L

y  y, R a  x, R b  y, L
q3 q0 q1 q2
x  x, R
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 Time 6
x x y b

q1

q4 y  y, R y  y, L
y  y, R a  a, R a  a, L
,L
y  y, R a  x, R b  y, L
q3 q0 q1 q2
x  x, R
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 Time 7
x x y b

q1

q4 y  y, R y  y, L
y  y, R a  a, R a  a, L
,L

y  y, R a  x, R b  y, L
q3 q0 q1 q2
x  x, R
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 Time 8
x x y y

q2

q4 y  y, R y  y, L
y  y, R a  a, R a  a, L
,L

y  y, R a  x, R b  y, L
q3 q0 q1 q2
x  x, R
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 Time 9 x x y y

q2

q4 y  y, R y  y, L
y  y, R a  a, R a  a, L
,L

y  y, R a  x, R b  y, L
q3 q0 q1 q2
x  x, R
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 Time 10
x x y y

q0

q4 y  y, R y  y, L
y  y, R a  a, R a  a, L
,L

y  y, R a  x, R b  y, L
q3 q0 q1 q2
x  x, R
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 Time 11
x x y y

q3

q4 y  y, R y  y, L
y  y, R a  a, R a  a, L
,L

y  y, R a  x, R b  y, L
q3 q0 q1 q2
x  x, R
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 Time 12 x x y y

q3

q4 y  y, R y  y, L
y  y, R a  a, R a  a, L
,L

y  y, R a  x, R b  y, L
q3 q0 q1 q2
x  x, R
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 Time 13 x x y y

q4
Halt & Accept

q4 y  y, R y  y, L
y  y, R a  a, R a  a, L
,L

y  y, R a  x, R b  y, L
q3 q0 q1 q2
x  x, R
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Observation:

If we modify the
machine for the language n n
{a b }

we can easily construct

n n n
a machine for the language {a b c }

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Turing Languages

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Recursively Enumerable
and
Recursive Languages

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Definition: Let M = (Q, Σ, Г, δ, q0, qacc, qrej)
be a TM, and let w be a string in Σ*. Then
w is accepted by M iff
q0w |—* α1 qf α2
where qf is in F and α1 and α2 are in Г*

Definition: Let M = (Q, Σ, Г, δ, q0, qacc, qrej)

be a TM. The language accepted by M,
denoted L(M), is the set
{w | w is in Σ* and w is accepted by M}

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Notes:

– If x is not in L(M) then M may enter an

infinite loop, or halt in a non-final state.

– Some TMs halt on all inputs, while others

may not. In either case the language
defined by TM is still well defined.

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Definition:
A language is recursively enumerable
if some Turing machine accepts it

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Let L be a recursively enumerable language

and M the Turing Machine that accepts it

For string w:
if w L then M halts in a final state

if w L then M halts in a non-final state

or loops forever
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This definition implies only that there exists
a TM M, such that for every wL,

q0 w |-* x1 qf x2

The definition says nothing about what

happens for w L;
…it may be that the machine halts in a
non- final sate or it never halts and goes
into an infinite loop.

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Definition:
A language is recursive
if some Turing machine accepts it
and halts on any input string

In other words:
A language is recursive if there is
a membership algorithm for it
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Let L be a recursive language

and M the Turing Machine that accepts it

For string w:

if w L then M halts in a final state

if w L then M halts in a non-final state

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What do you think is the advantage of
being recursive language over recursively
enumerable language?

Assuming you are presented a string w,

and you would like to know whether w is in
the language.

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Examples of Recursively Enumerable Languages

 L = {w  {a, b}* : w contains at least one a}

 L = {w  {a, b}* : w contains a double a}

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Non- Recursively Enumerable

Recursively Enumerable

Recursive

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Notes:
The set of all recursive languages is
a subset of the set of all recursively
enumerable languages

A TM is not recursive or recursively

enumerable, rather a language is
recursive or recursively enumerable.

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