Deterministic Finite Automata (DFA)

Deterministic finite-state automaton M = (Q , S , d , q

0
, F)
where
Q is a finite set of states
S is the input alphabet (a finite set of symbols)
d is the transition function
One transition per state-input combination
q
0
is the initial state
F is the set of final states (F Q)

Transition function (mapping) d : Q x S Q
d(q, a) = p in state q with input a, the new state is p

Transition mapping extension d : Q x S
*
Q
d(q, L) = q no change of state, unless reading an input
d(q, wa) = d(d(q,w), a) where w is a string in S
*


Reading wa means first reading w (and going to some state p),
and then reading a (and going to a next state r)

String recognition
A string w is recognized (accepted) by the DFA
if and only if d(q
0
, w) is a state in F

The language accepted by M, denoted L(M), is:
The set of strings recognized by the DFA M, that is
L(M) = { w S
*
| d(q
o
, w) F }


What Language Is Recognized?







M = ( {q
0
, q
1
, q
2
}, {0, 1}, d, q
0
, {q
0
, q
1
} )

Transition function d
d(q
0
, 0) = q
0
d(q
0
, 1) = q
1
d(q
1
, 0) = q
0
q
0
q
2
q
1
1 1
0, 1
0 0
d(q
1
, 1) = q
2
d(q
2
, 0) = q
2
d(q
2
, 1) = q
2
Start
What Language Is Recognized?
q
0
q
2
q
1
1 1
0, 1
0 0
State
Inputs
0 1
q
0
q
0
q
1

q
1
q
0
q
2

q
2
q
2
q
2

Transition table
Start
The language L(M)
accepted by the DFA
is the set of strings with
no two consecutive 1s
MWGC - f

Start
WC - MG

MWC - G

C - MWG

MGC - W

G - MWC

W - MGC

MWG - C

f - MWGC
MG - WC

g g g g
g
g
g
g
m
m
m
m
w
w
w
w
c c
c
c
A man with a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage, wants to cross a river
with a small boat where he can take only one passenger
The inputs: the mans actions
m he sails alone
g he takes the goat
w he takes the wolf
c he takes the cabbage
Deterministic Finite Automata (DFA)
Let M = (Q , S , d , q
0
, F) be a DFA
where
|Q| = N (the number of states is N)
|S| = k (the number of inputs is k)

How many DFA can we build ?
there are N possible initial states q
0

since F can be any subset of Q, there are 2
N
possible Fs
the transition function d: Q x S Q
can have N possible values for each of the Nk arguments
(state , input), that is, there are N x N x x N possibilities,
where the number of factors is Nk

Conclusion: There are N x 2
N
x N
Nk
possible DFA


Examples of DFA
S = { a , b }
Design a DFA that accepts all the words from S
*

Examples of DFA
S = { a , b }
Design a DFA that accepts no words from S
*

(that is, the language accepted by the DFA is an empty set)
the DFA has no final state
there is no path from the start state to any final state