Non-Deterministic

Finite Automata

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 1

 Nondeterministic Finite Automaton (NFA)

Alphabet = {a}

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 2

 Alphabet = {a}

Two choices q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 3

 Alphabet = {a}

Two choices q1 a q2 No transition

a
q0
a
q3 No transition

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 4

 First Choice

a a

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 5

 First Choice

a a

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 6

 First Choice

a a

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 7

 First Choice

a a
All input is consumed
q1 a q2 “accept”
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 8

 Second Choice

a a

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 9

 Second Choice

a a

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 10

 Second Choice

a a

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
No transition:
q3
the automaton hangs

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 11

 Second Choice

a a
Input cannot be consumed
q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3 “reject”

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 12

An NFA accepts a string:
if there is a computation of the NFA
that accepts the string

i.e., all the input is consumed and the automaton

is in an accepting state

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 13

 Example

aa is accepted by the NFA:

“accept”
q1 a q2 q1 a q2
a a
q0
a
q0
a
q3 q3 “reject”
because this
computation
accepts aa
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 14
 Rejection example

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 15

 First Choice

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 16

 First Choice

a
“reject”
q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 17

 Second Choice

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 18

 Second Choice

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 19

 Second Choice

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3 “reject”

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 20

An NFA rejects a string:
if there is no computation of the NFA
that accepts the string.

For each computation:

• All the input is consumed and the
automaton is in a non final state

OR
• The input cannot be consumed
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 21
 Example

a is rejected by the NFA:

“reject”
q1 a q2 q1 a q2
a a
q0 q0
a a
q3
“reject” q3

All possible computations lead to rejection

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 22
 Rejection example

a a a

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 23

 First Choice

a a a

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 24

 First Choice

a a a

q1 a q2
a
q0 No transition:
a
the automaton hangs
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 25

 First Choice

a a a
Input cannot be consumed
q1 a q2 “reject”
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 26

 Second Choice

a a a

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 27

 Second Choice

a a a

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 28

 Second Choice

a a a

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
No transition:
q3
the automaton hangs

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 29

 Second Choice

a a a
Input cannot be consumed
q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3 “reject”

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 30

 aaa is rejected by the NFA:

“reject”
q1 a q2 q1 a q2
a a
q0
a
q0
a
q3 q3 “reject”

All possible computations lead to rejection

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 31
 Language accepted: L  {aa}

q1 a q2
a
q0
a
q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 32

 Lambda Transitions

q0 a q1  q2 a q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 33

 a a

q0 a q1  q2 a q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 34

 a a

q0 a q1  q2 a q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 35

 (read head does not move)

a a

q0 a q1  q2 a q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 36

 a a

q0 a q1  q2 a q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 37

 all input is consumed

a a

“accept”

q0 a q1  q2 a q3

String aa is accepted
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 38
 Rejection Example

a a a

q0 a q1  q2 a q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 39

 a a a

q0 a q1  q2 a q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 40

 (read head doesn’t move)

a a a

q0 a q1  q2 a q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 41

 a a a

q0 a q1  q2 a q3

No transition:
the automaton hangs
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 42
 Input cannot be consumed

a a a

“reject”

q0 a q1  q2 a q3

String aaa is rejected

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 43
 Language accepted: L  {aa}

q0 a q1  q2 a q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 44

 Another NFA Example

q0 a q1 b q2  q3


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 45
 a b

q0 a q1 b q2  q3


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 46
 a b

q0 a q1 b q2  q3


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 47
 a b

q0 a q1 b q2  q3


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 48
 a b

“accept”
q0 a q1 b q2  q3


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 49
 Another String

a b a b

q0 a q1 b q2  q3


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 50
 a b a b

q0 a q1 b q2  q3


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 51
 a b a b

q0 a q1 b q2  q3


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 52
 a b a b

q0 a q1 b q2  q3


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 53
 a b a b

q0 a q1 b q2  q3


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 54
 a b a b

q0 a q1 b q2  q3


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 55
 a b a b

q0 a q1 b q2  q3


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 56
 a b a b

“accept”
q0 a q1 b q2  q3


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 57
 Language accepted

L   ab, abab, ababab, ...


  ab

q0 a q1 b q2  q3


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 58
 Another NFA Example

0
q0 q1 0, 1 q2
1

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 59
 Language accepted

L(M ) = { λ, 10, 1010, 101010, ...}

= { 10} *
0
q0 q1 0, 1 q2
1 (redundant
state)

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 60
Remarks:
•The  symbol never appears on the
input tape

•Simple automata:

M1 M2
q0 q0

L(M1 ) = {} L(M 2 ) = {λ}

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 61
 •NFAs are interesting because we can
express languages easier than DFAs

NFA M1 DFA M2 a
q2
q0 a q1
a
q0 a q1

L( M1 ) = {a} L( M 2 ) = {a}
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 62
 Formal Definition of NFAs
M   Q, ,  , q0 , F 

Q : Set of states, i.e.  q0 , q1, q2 

 : Input aplhabet, i.e.  a, b
: Transition function

q0 : Initial state

F : Accepting states
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 63
 Transition Function 
Is the result of following exactly
one transition

  q0 , 1   q1
0
q0 q1 0, 1 q
2
1

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 64
  (q1,0)  {q0 , q2}

0
q0 q1 0, 1 q
2
1

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 65
  (q0 ,  )  {q2 }

0
q0 q1 0, 1 q
2
1

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 66
  (q2 ,1)  

0
q0 q1 0, 1 q
2
1

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 67
 Extended Transition Function  *

 *  q0 , a    q1

q4 q5
a a
q0 a q1 b q2  q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 68
  *  q0 , aa    q4 , q5 

q4 q5
a a
q0 a q1 b q2  q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 69
  *  q0 , ab    q2 , q3 , q0 

q4 q5
a a
q0 a q1 b q2  q3

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 70
 Formally
q j   *  qi , w : there is a walk from qi to q j
with label w

qi w qj

w   1 2  k
1 2 k
qi qj

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 71

 The Language of an NFA M
F   q0 ,q5 
q4 q5
a a
q0 a q1 b q2  q3


 *  q0 , aa    q4 , q5 aa  L(M )
F
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 72
 F   q0 ,q5 
q4 q5
a a
q0 a q1 b q2  q3


 *  q0 , ab    q2 , q3 , q0  ab  L M 
F
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 73
F   q0 ,q5 
q4 q5
a a
q0 a q1 b q2  q3


 *  q0 , abaa    q4 , q5 aaba  L(M )

F
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 74
F   q0 ,q5 
q4 q5
a a
q0 a q1 b q2  q3


 *  q0 , aba    q1 aba  L M 

F
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 75
 q4 q5
a a
q0 a q1 b q2  q3


L  M   ab  *   ab  * {aa }

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 76

 Formally
The language accepted by NFA M is:
L M    w1, w2 , w3 ,...

where  * (q0 , wm )  {qi , q j ,..., qk ,}

and there is some qk  F (accepting state)

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 77
w L M   * (q0 , w)
qi
w1

q0
qk qk  F
w2

w3 qj

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 78

 NFAs accept the Regular
Languages

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 79

 Equivalence of Machines

Definition:

Machine M1 is equivalent to machine M 2

if L M 1   L M 2 

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 80

 Example of equivalent machines
NFA M1
0
L M1   {10} *
q0 q1
1

DFA M2 0,1
0
L M 2   {10} *
q0 q1 1 q2
1
0
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 81
 We will prove:


Languages
Regular
accepted
Languages
by NFAs
Languages
accepted
by DFAs
NFAs and DFAs have the
same computation power
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 82
 We will show:

Languages
accepted  Regular
Languages
by NFAs

Languages
accepted  Regular
Languages
by NFAs

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 83

 Proof-Step 1

Languages
accepted  Regular
Languages
by NFAs

Proof: Every DFA is trivially an NFA

Any language L accepted by a DFA

is also accepted by an NFA
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 84
 Proof-Step 2

Languages
accepted  Regular
Languages
by NFAs

Proof: Any NFA can be converted to an

equivalent DFA

Any language L accepted by an NFA

is also accepted by a DFA
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 85
 Convert NFA to DFA
a
NFA M
q a q 0
 q 1 2
b

DFA M
 q0 

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 86

 Convert NFA to DFA
a
NFA M
q a q 0
 q 1 2
b

DFA M
 q0  a
 q1, q2 

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 87

 Convert NFA to DFA
a
NFA M
q a q 0
 q 1 2
b

DFA M
 q0  a
 q1, q2 
b


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 88
 Convert NFA to DFA
a
NFA M
q a q 0
 q 1 2
b

a
DFA M
 q0  a
 q1, q2 
b


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 89
 Convert NFA to DFA
a
NFA M
q a q 0
 q 1 2
b

b a
DFA M
 q0  a
 q1, q2 
b


Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 90
 Convert NFA to DFA
a
NFA M
q a q 0
 q 1 2
b

b a
DFA M
 q0  a
 q1, q2 
b

 a, b
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 91
 Convert NFA to DFA
a
NFA M
q a q 0
 q 1 2
b
L M   L(M )
a
DFA M b

 q0  a
 q1, q2 
b

 a, b
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 92
 NFA to DFA: Remarks

We are given an NFA M

We want to convert it
to an equivalent DFA M 

With L M   L(M )
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 93
If the NFA has states

q0 , q1, q2 ,...

the DFA has states in the powerset

,  q0  ,  q1 ,  q1, q2  ,  q3 , q4 , q7  ,....

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 94

 Procedure NFA to DFA

1. Initial state of NFA: q0

Initial state of DFA:  q0 

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 95

 Example
M a
NFA
q0 a q1  q2
b

DFA M
 q0 

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 96

 Procedure NFA to DFA
2. For every DFA’s state {qi , q j ,..., qm }

Compute in the NFA

 *  qi , a  ,
 *  q j , a ,  {qi , qj ,..., qm
}
...
Add transition to DFA
 {qi , q j ,..., qm }, a   {qi , qj ,..., qm
}
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 97
 Exampe
M a
NFA
q0 a q1  q2
b
 * (q0 , a )  {q1, q2 }

DFA M 

 q0  a
 q1, q2 

   q0  , a    q1, q2 
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 98
 Procedure NFA to DFA

Repeat Step 2 for all letters in alphabet,

until
no more transitions can be added.

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 99

 Example
M a
NFA
q0 a q1  q2
b

b a
DFA M
 q0  a
 q1, q2 
b

 a, b
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 100
 Procedure NFA to DFA
3. For any DFA state {qi , q j ,..., qm }

If some q j is accepting state in NFA

Then, {qi , q j ,..., qm }

is accepting state in DFA

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 101

 Example
M a
NFA
q0 a q1  q2 q1  F
b
a
DFA M b

 q0  a
 q1, q2 
b  q1, q2   F 
 a, b
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 102
 Theorem
Take NFA M

Apply conversion procedure

to obtain DFA M 

Then M and M are equivalent :

L M   L M  

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 103

 Proof

L M   L M 

L M   L M   AND L M   L M  

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 104

 First we show: L M   L M  

Take arbitrary: w L(M )

We will prove: w  L(M )

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 105

 w L(M )

NFA M: q0 w qf

w   1 2  k
1 2 k
NFA M: q0 qf

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 106

 i
qi qj

denotes

  i 
qi qj

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 107

 We will show that if w L(M )

w   1 2  k
1 2 k
NFA M: q0 qf

then

1 2 k
DFA M:
{q0 } {q f ,}
w  L(M )
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 108
 More generally, we will show that if in M:
(arbitrary string) v  a1a2 an
a1 a2 an
NFA M: q0 qi qj ql qm

then

a1 a2 an
DFA M:
{q0} {qi ,} {q j ,} {ql ,} {qm ,}

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 109

 Proof by induction on |v|

Induction Basis: v  a1

a1
NFA M: q0 qi

a1
DFA M:
{q0 } {qi ,}

Is true by construction of M:

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 110
 Induction hypothesis: 1 | v | k
v  a1a2 ak
a1 a2 ak
M: q0 qi qj qc qd
NFA

a1 a2 ak
DFA M:
{q0} {qi ,} {q j ,} {qc ,} {qd ,}

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 111

 Induction Step: | v | k  1
v  a1a2 ak ak 1  vak 1
   
v

a1 a2 ak
M: q0 qi qj qc qd
NFA

v
a1 a2 ak
DFA M:
{q0 } {qi ,} {q j ,} {qc ,} {qd ,}

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI

v 112
 Induction Step: | v | k  1
v  a1a2 ak ak 1  vak 1
   
v

a1 a2 ak ak 1
NFA M: q0 qi qj qc qd qe

v
a1 a2 ak ak 1
DFA M:
{q0} {qi ,} {q j ,} {qc ,} {qd ,} {qe ,}

Fall 2005
v
Costas Busch - RPI 113
 Therefore if w L(M )

w   1 2  k
1 2 k
NFA M: q0 qf

then

1 2 k
DFA M:
{q0 } {q f ,}
w  L(M )
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 114
 We have shown: L M   L M  

We also need to show: L M   L M  

(proof is similar and omitted)

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 115