Formal Languages & Finite Theory of

Automata
BS Course

Slide # : 02
Muhammad Faizan Tahir
Introduction to Finite Automata

Languages
Deterministic Finite Automata
Representations of Automata

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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, . . . }

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 Finite Automata
• It is divided into two parts:

1- Deterministic Finite Automata (DFA)

2- Non-Deterministic Finite Automata (NFA)

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 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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 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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 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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 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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 Extended 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, z 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.
˄ a) = δ(δ(q,
• 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: String in a Language

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: String in a Language

String 101 is in the language of the DFA below.

Follow arc labeled 1.

0 0,1
1 1
A B C

Start 0

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 Example: String in a Language

String 101 is in the language of the DFA below.

Then arc labeled 0 from current state B.

0 0,1
1 1
A B C

Start 0

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 Example: String in a Language
String 101 is in the language of the DFA below.

Finally arc labeled 1 from current state A. Result

is an accepting state, so 101 is in the language.
0 0,1
1 1
A B C

Start 0

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 Example – 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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 Proofs of Set Equivalence
• Often, we need to prove that two descriptions
of sets are in fact the same set.
• Here, one set is “the language of this DFA,”
and the other is “the set of strings of 0’s and
1’s with no consecutive 1’s.”

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 Proofs – (2)

• In general, to prove S=T, we need to

prove two parts: S ⊆ T and T ⊆ S. That is:
1. If w is in S, then w is in T.
2. If w is in T, then w is in S.
• As an example, let S = the language of our
running DFA, and T = “no consecutive
1’s.”

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 Part 1: S ⊆ T
0 0,1
• To prove: if w is accepted by A 1 B 1C
then w has no consecutive 1’s. Start 0
• Proof is an induction on length of w.
• Important trick: Expand the inductive
hypothesis to be more detailed than you
need.

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 The Inductive Hypothesis

1. If δ(A, w) = A, then w has no consecutive

1’s and does not end in 1.
2. If δ(A, w) = B, then w has no consecutive
1’s and ends in a single 1.
• Basis: |w| = 0; i.e., w = ε.
– (1) holds since ε has no 1’s at all.
– (2) holds vacuously, since δ(A, ε) is not B.
Important concept:
“length of”
If the “if” part of “if..then” is false,
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the statement is true.
 0 0,1
A 1 B 1C
Inductive Step Start 0
• Assume (1) and (2) are true for strings shorter
than w, where |w| is at least 1.
• Because w is not empty, we can write w = xa,
where a is the last symbol of w, and x is the
string that precedes.
• IH is true for x.

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 0 0,1
A 1 B 1C
Inductive Step – (2)
Start 0

• Need to prove (1) and (2) for w = xa.

• (1) for w is: If δ(A, w) = A, then w has no
consecutive 1’s and does not end in 1.
• Since δ(A, w) = A, δ(A, x) must be A or B, and a
must be 0 (look at the DFA).
• By the IH, x has no 11’s.
• Thus, w has no 11’s and does not end in 1.

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 0 0,1
A 1 B 1C
Inductive Step – (3)
Start 0

• Now, prove (2) for w = xa: If δ(A, w) = B, then

w has no 11’s and ends in 1.
• Since δ(A, w) = B, δ(A, x) must be A, and a
must be 1 (look at the DFA).
• By the IH, x has no 11’s and does not end in 1.
• Thus, w has no 11’s and ends in 1.

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 Part 2: T ⊆ S X

• Now, we must prove: if w has no 11’s, then w is

accepted by 0 0,1
A
1 B
1 C
Y Start 0
• Contrapositive : If w is not accepted by

0
0,1
1 1
A B C Key idea: contrapositive
Start 0 of “if X then Y” is the
equivalent statement
then w has 11 . “if not Y then not X.”
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 0 0,1
Using the Contrapositive A 1 B 1C
Start 0
• Every w gets the DFA to exactly one state.
– Simple inductive proof based on:
• Every state has exactly one transition on 1, one
transition on 0.
• The only way w is not accepted is if it gets to
C.

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Using the Contrapositive – 0 0,1
A 1 B 1C
(2) Start
0
• The only way to get to C [formally: δ(A,w) = C]
is if w = x1y, x gets to B, and y is the tail of w
that follows what gets to C for the first time.
• If δ(A,x) = B then surely x = z1 for some z.
• Thus, w = z11y and has 11.

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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 past.
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 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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