LECTURE:20 MORE ON PCP

Posts Correspondence Problems

By: CHERLY B. SARDOVIA MSCS-1

Definition:
An instance of PCP consists of two lists of strings over some alphabet S. The two lists are of length, denoted as A and B. The instance is denoted as (A,B). WE write them as A=w1,w2,wk B= x1, x2, ,xk for some integer k. For each i, the pair (wi, xi) is said a corresponding pair.

PCP INSTANCES

An instance of PCP is a list of pairs of nonempty strings over some alphabet .

Say (W1,X1), (W2, X2), .., (WN, XN).

The answer to this instance of PCP is yes if and only if there exists a nonempty sequence of indices i1, . . . ik, such that Wi1Win=Xi1Xin

POST CORRESPONDENCE PROBLEM

(PCP) is an example of a problem that does not mention TMs in its statement, yet is undecidable. From PCP, we can prove many other nonTM problems undecidable.

EXAMPLE: PCP
Let the alphabet be {0, 1}. Let the PCP instance consists of the two pairs (0, 01) and (100, 001). We claim there is no solution. You cant start with (100, 001) because the first character dont match.

EXAMPLE: PCP-(3)

Suppose we add a third pair, so the instance becomes: 1= (0, 01); 2 = (100, 001); 3= (110, 10) Now 1, 3 is a solution; both string are 0110.

A SIMPLE UNDECIDABLE PROBLEM

We say this instance of PCP has a solution, if there is a sequence of integers, i1, i2, , im that, when interpreted as indexed for strings in the A and B lists, yields the same string, that is, wi1 wi2 wim=xi1 xi2 xim. We say the sequence is a solution to this instance of PCP.