DETERMINISTIC BLOW-UPS OF MINIMAL NONDETERMINISTIC FINITE AUTOMATA OVER A FIXED ALPHABET

2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (03) ◽  
pp. 617-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOZEF JIRÁSEK ◽  
GALINA JIRÁSKOVÁ ◽  
ALEXANDER SZABARI

We show that for all integers n and α such that n ⩽ α ⩽ 2n, there exists a minimal nondeterministic finite automaton of n states with a four-letter input alphabet whose equivalent minimal deterministic finite automaton has exactly α states. It follows that in the case of a four-letter alphabet, there are no "magic numbers", i.e., the holes in the hierarchy. This improves a similar result obtained by Geffert for a growing alphabet of size n + 2.

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (05) ◽  
pp. 1027-1038 ◽  
Author(s):  
LYNETTE VAN ZIJL

Iwama et al. showed that there exists an n-state binary nondeterministic finite automaton such that its equivalent minimal deterministic finite automaton has exactly 2n - α states, for all n ≥ 7 and 5 ≤ α ≤ 2n-2, subject to certain coprimality conditions. We investigate the same question for both unary and binary symmetric difference nondeterministic finite automata. In the binary case, we show that for any n ≥ 4, there is an n-state symmetric difference nondeterministic finite automaton for which the equivalent minimal deterministic finite automaton has 2n - 1 + 2k - 1 - 1 states, for 2 < k ≤ n - 1. In the unary case, we consider a large practical subclass of unary symmetric difference nondeterministic finite automata: for all n ≥ 2, we argue that there are many values of α such that there is no n-state unary symmetric difference nondeterministic finite automaton with an equivalent minimal deterministic finite automaton with 2n - α states, where 0 < α < 2n - 1. For each n ≥ 2, we quantify such values of α precisely.


2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (02) ◽  
pp. 331-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
GALINA JIRÁSKOVÁ

A number α, in the range from n to 2n, is magic for n with respect to a given alphabet size s, if there is no minimal nondeterministic finite automaton of n states and s input symbols whose equivalent minimal deterministic finite automaton has α states. We show that in the case of a ternary alphabet, there are no magic numbers. For all n and α satisfying n ⩽ α ⩽ 2n, we define an n-state nondeterministic finite automaton with a three-letter input alphabet that requires exactly α deterministic states.


1984 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-223
Author(s):  
Jerzy Wojciechowski

In this paper the notion of a nondeterministic finite automaton acting on arbitrary transfinite sequences is introduced. It is a generalization of the finite automaton on finite sequences and the finite automaton on ω-sequences. The basic properties of the behaviour of such automata are proved. The methods are shown how to construct automata accepting classes A ⋃ B, A ⋂ B, A ∘ B, A*, Aω, A# if we have automata accepting classes A and B. We prove that if a TF-automaton having k states accepts anything then it accepts an α-sequence for a certain, α ∈ { ∑ i = 0 m ω i · a i : ∑ i = 1 m i · a i + a 0 ⩽ k }. Using the foregoing fact, we show that the family of classes definable by TF-automata is not closed with respect to the complement operation, that nondeterministic automata are not equivalent to the deterministic ones and that the emptiness problem for TP-automata is decidable. In the last section we show the construction of TP-automata defining sets {∗α} for α < ω ω and having as few states as possible.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (05) ◽  
pp. 503-522
Author(s):  
Holger Bock Axelsen ◽  
Markus Holzer ◽  
Martin Kutrib

Recently, a method to decide the NL-complete problem of whether the language accepted by a given deterministic finite automaton (DFA) can also be accepted by some reversible deterministic finite automaton (REV-DFA) has been derived. Here, we show that the corresponding problem for nondeterministic finite automata (NFA) is PSPACE-complete. The recent DFA method essentially works by minimizing the DFA and inspecting it for a forbidden pattern. We here study the degree of irreversibility for a regular language, the minimal number of such forbidden patterns necessary in any DFA accepting the language, and show that the degree induces a strict infinite hierarchy of language families. We examine how the degree of irreversibility behaves under the usual language operations union, intersection, complement, concatenation, and Kleene star, showing tight bounds (some asymptotically) on the degree.


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (05) ◽  
pp. 861-876 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jozef Jirásek ◽  
Galina Jirásková ◽  
Juraj Šebej

A nondeterministic finite automaton is unambiguous if it has at most one accepting computation on every input string. We investigate the state complexity of basic regular operations on languages represented by unambiguous finite automata. We get tight upper bounds for reversal ([Formula: see text]), intersection ([Formula: see text]), left and right quotients ([Formula: see text]), positive closure ([Formula: see text]), star ([Formula: see text]), shuffle ([Formula: see text]), and concatenation ([Formula: see text]). To prove tightness, we use a binary alphabet for intersection and left and right quotients, a ternary alphabet for star and positive closure, a five-letter alphabet for shuffle, and a seven-letter alphabet for concatenation. For complementation, we reduce the trivial upper bound [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text]. We also get some partial results for union and square.


2009 ◽  
Vol 02 (04) ◽  
pp. 717-726
Author(s):  
L. K. Waters ◽  
J. K. Grieshop

In this paper we establish the regularity of various sets of multi-accepted strings of nondeterministic finite automata. Regularity follows from the existence of accepting automata constructed by introducing a vector labeling method which generalizes the subset labeling approach. In each set the acceptance levels of the strings correspond to finite sets of additive equivalence classes of non-negative integers.


2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (01) ◽  
pp. 115-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARKUS HOLZER ◽  
SEBASTIAN JAKOBI ◽  
MARTIN KUTRIB

We investigate the magic number problem, that is, the question whether there exists a minimal n-state nondeterministic finite automaton (NFA) whose equivalent minimal deterministic finite automaton (DFA) has α states, for all n and α satisfying n ≤ α ≤ 2n. A number α not satisfying this condition is called a magic number (for n). It was shown that no magic numbers exist for general regular languages, whereas trivial and non-trivial magic numbers for unary regular languages were identified. We obtain similar results for automata accepting subregular languages like, for example, star-free languages, prefix-, suffix-, and infix-closed languages, and prefix-, suffix-, and infix-free languages, showing that there are only trivial magic numbers, when they exist. For finite languages we obtain some partial results showing that certain numbers are non-magic.


10.14311/1008 ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Holub

The finite automata are mathematical models for finite state systems. More general finite automaton is the nondeterministic finite automaton (NFA) that cannot be directly used. It is usually transformed to the deterministic finite automaton (DFA) that then runs in time O(n), where n is the size of the input text. We present two main approaches to practical implementation of DFA considering CPU cache. The first approach (represented by Table Driven and Hard Coded implementations) is suitable forautomata being run very frequently, typically having cycles. The other approach is suitable for a collection of automata from which various automata are retrieved and then run. This second kind of automata are expected to be cycle-free. 


Author(s):  
KATSUSHI INOUE ◽  
ITSUO TAKANAMI

This paper first shows that REC, the family of recognizable picture languages in Giammarresi and Restivo,3 is equal to the family of picture languages accepted by two-dimensional on-line tessellation acceptors in Inoue and Nakamura.5 By using this result, we then solve open problems in Giammarresi and Restivo,3 and show that (i) REC is not closed under complementation, and (ii) REC properly contains the family of picture languages accepted by two-dimensional nondeterministic finite automata even over a one letter alphabet.


2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (07) ◽  
pp. 877-896 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARTIN KUTRIB ◽  
ANDREAS MALCHER ◽  
MATTHIAS WENDLANDT

We investigate the descriptional complexity of deterministic one-way multi-head finite automata accepting unary languages. It is known that in this case the languages accepted are regular. Thus, we study the increase of the number of states when an n-state k-head finite automaton is simulated by a classical (one-head) deterministic or nondeterministic finite automaton. In the former case upper and lower bounds that are tight in the order of magnitude are shown. For the latter case we obtain an upper bound of O(n2k) and a lower bound of Ω(nk) states. We investigate also the costs for the conversion of one-head nondeterministic finite automata to deterministic k-head finite automata, that is, we trade nondeterminism for heads. In addition, we study how the conversion costs vary in the special case of finite and, in particular, of singleton unary lanuages. Finally, as an application of the simulation results, we show that decidability problems for unary deterministic k-head finite automata such as emptiness or equivalence are LOGSPACE-complete.


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