Theory of Automata

Lecture#3rd
By
Riaz Ahmad Ziar
r.ziar@kardan.edu.af
 Regular Expression Practice Continue
• Write down the regular expression defined over Σ={a,b} where each string ends
with double a’s or double b’s.
• Write down the regular expression defined over Σ={a,b} Where each string start
with double b’s and end with double a’s.
• Write down the regular expression for the language defined over Σ={a,b} where
each string have exactly one double b’s.
• Write down the regular expression for the language defined over Σ={a,b} where
each string have exactly one triple a’s.
• Write down the regular expression defined over Σ={0,1} which consist of even
number of 0’s and even number of 1’s.
• Language defined over Σ={a,b} then write down regular expression for the
language where each string consist Odd numbers of a’s and b’s
 Practice continue

• Construct a regular expression defining each of the following languages over the alphabet Σ = {a, b}
• All strings that end in double letter
• All strings that do not end in double letter
• All words that contain exactly two b’s or exactly three b’s, not more.
• Write down the regular expression for the language defined over Σ={a,b} that does
not contain aab
• Write RE of strings of a and b, which must end in triple b’s
• Write RE of strings of a and c followed by 3 b’s
• Write RE of strings of a and c, followed by any numbers of b’s
 Practice Continue

A language is defined over Σ={0,1} , you need to Write a regular

expression for each of the following sets of binary strings.
contains at least three consecutive 1's
Does not contains two consecutive 0’s
Contains at most two 0’s
contains the substring 101
contains the substring 1101100
 Practice Continue

• Find the shortest string that is in the language represented by the regular expression a*(ab)*b*.
• Find the shortest string that is not in the language represented by the regular expression
a*(ab)*b*.
• Consider the language S*, where S={a, b}
How many words this language have of length 2? of length 3?
 Equivalent Regular Expression

• Two or more regular expressions are said to be equivalent if they generate

the same language.
• Exp: Write down the regular expression for the language defined over
Σ={a,b} where each string ends with aa or bb. then
R1= (a+b)*(aa+bb)
R2=(a+b)*aa+(a+b)*bb
As both the above mentioned regular expression defined the same
language so both are equivalent.
 Con’t

• Now consider the following two regular expression

R1= (a*+b*)
R2= (a+b)*
Then both of the regular expressions are equal??????????????
The answer is NO!
Because the R1 does not generate the string which is the
concatenation of a and b while the R2 generate such string which
is the concatenation of a and b.
 Con’t

• If R1=(aa+bb) and R2=(a+b) are the two regular expression then

• R1+R2
• R1.R2
• R 1*
Are also the regular expressions
 Some important identities

• ϵ.R=R
• ϵ*=ϵ
• Φ*= ϵ
• R+R=R
• R*.R*=R* r=a* a*.a*=a*
• (R*)*=R* r=a* (a*)*=a*
• R+ Φ =R
• (ϵ+R)*=R*
• (R+R)S*=RS*
 What is Regular language?
• The language generated by any regular expression is called a regular
language.
• It is to be noted that if R1, R2 are regular expressions, corresponding to the
languages L1 and L2 then the languages generated by
• If R1 = (aa+bb) and R2 = (a+b) then the language of strings generated by R1+R2, is also a
regular language, expressed by (aa+bb) + (a+b)
• If R1 = (aa+bb) and R2 = (a+b) then the language of strings generated by R1R2, is also a
regular language, expressed by (aa+bb)(a+b)
• If R = (aa+bb) then the language of strings generated by R*, is also a regular language,
expressed by (aa+bb)*
 All finite languages are regular

• Consider the following regular expression

R.E=(aa+ab)
Thus the language generated by this regular expression is
L={aa,ab}
Which is a language of length 2 where each string start from a.
Thus L is a regular language.
 What is finite automaton.(FA)

• It is the fourth way of defining the language and can be defined as the collection of
the following.
• Finite number of states, having one initial and having none, one or many final
states.
• Finite set of input letters (Σ) from which input strings are formed.
• Finite set of transitions i.e. for each state and for each input letter there is a
transition showing how to move from one state to another.
It should be noted that for one language there may two or more FA’s which all be
correct but for a single FA there will be exactly one language.
 Points to be noted

• We should take care of the following points while constructing an FA.

• A state may be denoted by any name.
• A transition is denoted by an arrow initiates from one state and
terminates on another.
• The label(letter or digit) above the arrow shows the inputs.
• If an arrow initiate from a state and terminate on the same state is
called loop.
• The loop represent any combination of the label including NULL.
• An FA is also called finite state machine or finite state automata(FSA).
 DFA

Formal Definition of FA

A finite automaton is a collection of 5-tuple (Q, ∑, δ, q0, F), where:

• Q: finite set of states  
• ∑: finite set of the input symbol  
• q0: initial state   
• F: final state  
• δ: Transition function  
 Points to be noted
• It may be noted that to indicate the initial state an arrow head can also
be placed before that state and the final state can be indicated by
double circle. It is also to be noted while expressing the FA by its
transition diagram the labels of states are not necessary.
 Example

• A language is defined over Σ={a,b} then construct a finite state machine

that accept any combination of b’s but must end with a.
 Example

Σ = {a,b}
States: x, y, z where x is an initial state and z is final state.
Transitions:
1. At state x reading a, go to state z
2. At state x reading b, go to state y
3. At state y reading a, b go to state y
4. At state z reading a, b go to state z
 Con’t
• These transition can be expressed by the table called transition table as
under:
 Con’t
• The finite state machine or transition diagram will be as under:

The above transition diagram is an FA accepting the language of strings, defined over
Σ = {a, b}, starting with a.
It may be noted that this language may be expressed by the regular expression a(a + b)*