Çankaya University

Department of Mathematics
2021 - 2022 Fall Semester

CENG 491 - Formal Languages and Automata

First Midterm Examination

1) Find a DFA that recognizes the language L over Σ = {0, 1}:

Strings in L contain odd number of 0’s and odd number of 1’s.

2) Find an NFA that recognizes the language L over Σ = {a, b}:

Strings in L are of length at least 4. Each string ends with abab or bbb.

3) Consider the language given by the following regular expression over Σ = {a, b, c}:

∗
aca∗ a∗ ba∗ ba∗ ca

Describe this language verbally.

4) Find a regular expression equivalent to the language over Σ = {a, b, c} recognized by the following NFA:

b b

a b c

ε
5) Consider the language L over Σ = {0, 1} composed of strings of the type wwR where wR is the reverse
of a string. For example, 10011R = 11001.
Some examples in L are:

1001, 111111, 101101, 00100100, . . .

ˆ If L is regular, find a regular expression for it.

ˆ If L is not regular, prove this using pumping lemma.

Bonus) Consider the following language over Σ = {a, b}:

Strings contain at least three a’s and at most four b’s.

ˆ If it is regular, find an NFA for it.

ˆ If it is not regular, prove this using pumping lemma.

 ANSWERS

1)

1 1 1 1

2)

a b a
a, b ε b

ε b

a, b b b

3)

ˆ Strings start with ac and end with ca.

ˆ Strings contain exactly two c’s.

ˆ Number of b’s is even.

4) After eliminating some states, we can obtain:

(ac∗ b ∪ ε)bb

(ac∗ b ∪ ε)(b ∪ c)

Then, the equivalent regular expression is:

 ∗ ∗
(ac b ∪ ε)bb (ac∗ b ∪ ε)(b ∪ c)

or equivalently:
 ∗ ∗
ac bbb ∪ bb (ac∗ bb ∪ ac∗ bc ∪ b ∪ c)

An alternative order of eliminating states give:

bb(ac∗ b ∪ ε)

ac∗ b ∪ ε b∪c

Then, the equivalent regular expression is:

∗
ac∗ b ∪ ε bb(ac∗ b ∪ ε) (b ∪ c)



5) Assume L is regular, let the pumping let be p. Consider the test string

s = 0p 110p

Let’s try to find substrings x, y, z such that s = xyz.

By pumping lemma, we know that |xy| 6 p. Then, y is made of 0’s only in other words y = 0k , 1 6 k 6 p.
But in that case

xyyz = 0p+k 110p ∈

/L

This string cannot be pumped. Therefore, by pumping lemma this language is NOT regular.
Bonus) This language is regular. The following NFA recognizes it:

a a a
a

b b b b

a a a
a

b b b b

a a a
a

b b b b

a a a
a

b b b b

a a a
a