Chapter 6: Transition Graphs

b a a +
–

a b b a,b

a,b

● An FA: {baa}
● The word a? The word baabb?
● The input fails, or the machine fails on the input. The input is
rejected.

1
A More Powerful Machine

ba a

– b +
aa,
ab, a,b
bb
a,b
● A transition graph that accepts the language {baa}

(A machine that seems to be more powerful)

2
Two others with fewer states
baa
– +

baa
– +
all else a,b
a, b,
aa, ab,
ba, bb,
aaa…
a,b

● The word a? The word baabb?

● The input crashes. The machine crashes. The input is rejected.
 Because there is nowhere to go, there is still input remaining.
 Now, there are 2 ways for an input to be rejected (crashing and
ending in a non-final state).
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 a,b a,b
aa,bb
– +

● baa?
● a choice, a decision
2 possible paths b|aa - accepted
b|a|a - rejected
1 way to crash ba|a – rejected
● The machine represents a language L. baa  L?
● For all w, w  L if there exists a path that arrives at a final
state.

4
 1
ba ab

– +

baa 2 b

● baab? 2 possible paths, both end in a final state.

5
Transition Graphs
● A transition graph (TG) is the following 3 things:
1. a finite set of states, at least one of which is designated as
the start state, and some (maybe none) of which are
designated the final states (or accepting states)
2. an alphabet S of input letters
3. a finite set of transitions that show how to go to a new
state, for some pairs of state and substrings of letters (or
L). (One pair can have 0, 1, or more next-states.)
● A successful path is a series of edges beginning at some start
state and ending at a final state.
● The concatenation of all the substrings that label the edges in
the path is a word accepted by this machine.
● The set of words accepted is the language of the transition
graph.
6
Example

1 abb 2 L 3 a +
–

aa
b

abb | L | aa | b = abbaab
1 2 3 1 4

abbab crashes.

7
Many start states
1
L 1
a – a
L b 2 b +
– 2 + –

aba 3 aba
L 3 –

● These two machines are clearly equivalent.

● Remark: Every finite automaton is a transition graph.

8
 – +

L= L = {L}

– L
+
abba –
baa
–

L = {L,abba,baa}
9
L = {L}
L
+ +

L
L L
– + – +

bb
+ + +
a

10
All words ending in b: (a+b)*b

a b
b FA
– +
a

a,b
b transition graph
– +
Some words can fail, crash, and
succeed: abab.

11
 Words that
begin and
a,b end with
different
b letters
+
a
– a,b
b All words
a with all a’s in
+ even groups,
and ending
in 3 or more
aa b b’s

b b b +
–
aa

12
EVEN-EVEN
b
even: a even: a
even: b 1+ 2 odd: b
b

FA: a a a a
b
3 4 odd: a
odd: a
even: b
b odd: b

aa,bb aa,bb
transition graph: ab,ba
balanced + unbalanced
(even: a, even: b) ab,ba (odd: a, odd: b)
13
 b
a a,b
b
– +
bbb
a ab
a a
bbb
b

bb bb
a

abbbabbbabba
14
 L L

a a +
–

● Infinitely many paths for aa

● Is there an algorithm to determine if a word is accepted?

15
 L
– a a +

L L circuit (leads to infinite

path) but not difficult to
see how to remove it
a, L
– a a +
b, L
removing the L
circuit changes the
language

16
Generalized Transition Graphs
● A generalized transition graph (GTG) is the following 3
things:
1. a finite set of states, at least one of which is designated as
the start state, and some (maybe none) of which are
designated the final states (or accepting states)
2. an alphabet S of input letters
3. a finite set of edges connecting some pairs of states, each
labeled with a regular expression

Words without 2 b’s in a row:

a* a*

(ba+a)* b+L +
+

17
Kleene Star Closure and Loops

b a,b

a,b a +
–

(a+b)*

(a+b) b* a +
–

18
Choosing Transitions
4 …
abb

… 3

…
abb
5

b 4 …
ab

… 3

…
abb
5
19
 8 …
a

… 7 b 9 … Choices even with restriction

of 1 letter per edge (or 0)
…
b
10

8 …
a
…
Machine is nondeterministic
… 7
b 9

L b 10 …
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