CS5113

Advanced Theory of Computation

DR. AAMER NADEEM
WEEK 02 – MAR. 16, 2024

CAPITAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

FSA – Examples
• Example 5
Σ = {𝑎 𝑏}
𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑑𝑑 − 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠
∗
𝑅. 𝐸. = 𝑎+𝑏 𝑎+𝑏 (𝑎 + 𝑏)

CS5113 Advanced Theory of Computation – by Dr. Aamer Nadeem Spring 2022 2

FSA – Examples
• Example 6
Σ = {𝑎 𝑏}
𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 − 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠
𝑅. 𝐸. = ( 𝑎 + 𝑏 𝑎 + 𝑏 )∗

CS5113 Advanced Theory of Computation – by Dr. Aamer Nadeem Spring 2022 3

FSA – Examples
• Example 7
Σ = {𝑎 𝑏}
𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑏
𝑅. 𝐸. = 𝑎𝑏(𝑎 + 𝑏)∗

CS5113 Advanced Theory of Computation – by Dr. Aamer Nadeem Spring 2022 4

FSA – Examples
• Example 8
Σ = {𝑎 𝑏}
𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏
𝑅. 𝐸. =
𝑏 ∗ 𝑎𝑎∗ 𝑏(𝑎 + 𝑏)∗
(𝑎 + 𝑏)∗ 𝑎𝑏(𝑎 + 𝑏)∗

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FSA – Examples
• Example 9
Σ = {𝑎 𝑏}
𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑏
𝑅. 𝐸. =
(𝑎 + 𝑏)∗ 𝑎𝑏

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FSA – Examples
• Example 10
Σ = {𝑎 𝑏}
𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑏
𝑅. 𝐸. = 𝑎(𝑎 + 𝑏)∗ 𝑏

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FSA – Examples
• Example 11
Σ = {𝑎 𝑏}
𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑎 𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑏
𝑅. 𝐸. = 𝑎 + 𝑏 ∗ (𝑎𝑎 + 𝑏𝑏)(𝑎 + 𝑏)∗

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FSA – Examples
• Example 12
𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑎 𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑏
𝑅. 𝐸. = (𝑎𝑎 + 𝑏𝑏)(𝑎 + 𝑏)∗

CS5113 Advanced Theory of Computation – by Dr. Aamer Nadeem Spring 2022 9

FSA – Examples
• Example 13
𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑎 𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑏
𝑅. 𝐸. = 𝑎 + 𝑏 ∗ (𝑎𝑎 + 𝑏𝑏)

CS5113 Advanced Theory of Computation – by Dr. Aamer Nadeem Spring 2022 10

FSA – Examples
• Example 14
Σ = {𝑎 𝑏}
𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑎′ 𝑠
𝑅. 𝐸. = 𝑏 ∗ 𝑎𝑏 ∗ 𝑎𝑏 ∗

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FSA – Examples
• Example 15
Σ = {𝑎 𝑏}
𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑎′ 𝑠
𝑅. 𝐸. = 𝑏 ∗ 𝑎𝑏 ∗ 𝑎(𝑎 + 𝑏)∗

CS5113 Advanced Theory of Computation – by Dr. Aamer Nadeem Spring 2022 12

FSA – Examples
• Example 16
Σ = {𝑎 𝑏}
𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑎′ 𝑠
𝑅. 𝐸. = 𝑏 ∗ (𝑎 + 𝜀)𝑏 ∗ (𝑎 + 𝜀)𝑏 ∗

CS5113 Advanced Theory of Computation – by Dr. Aamer Nadeem Spring 2022 13

Exercises
• Write Regular Expressions and construct FSA for each of the
following languages over Σ = {𝑎 𝑏}
• Language of all those strings which begin with aba
• Language of all those strings which end with aba
• Language of all those strings which contain odd number of b’s
• Language of all those strings whose length is greater than 3
• Language of all those strings whose length is a multiple of 3
• Language of all those strings whose length is even and last symbol is b
• Language of all those strings in which second last symbol is b
• Language of all those strings whose length is odd and second last symbol is b
• Language of all those strings which begin and end with different symbols
• Language of all those strings in which number of a’s odd and number of b’s is
even
• Language of all those strings in which every third symbol is b

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Non-deterministic FSA
Non-deterministic Finite State Automata
• A non-deterministic finite-state automaton (NFA) does not need to
have a unique outgoing transition for each alphabet symbol from
each state
• There can be more than one outgoing transitions from same state having same
label
• There may be no outgoing transition for a symbol from a given state

• Transitions may have 𝜀 as transition label

• There may be more than one start states

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Possible NFA transitions

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Language of an NFA
• When we run a string on an NFA
• There can be multiple paths that can be followed
• The string may get accepted on some paths
• On some paths, the string may get rejected because a non-final state is reached
• On some paths, the string may get rejected because NFA crashes

• A string is considered as accepted on an NFA if it is accepted on at

least one path
• A string is considered as rejected on an NFA if it is rejected on all
paths
• Language of an NFA is the set of all strings accepted on the NFA

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NFA – Examples
• Example 1
Σ = {𝑎 𝑏}
𝑅. 𝐸. = 𝑏 ∗ 𝑎∗

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NFA – Examples
• Example 2
Σ = {𝑎 𝑏}
𝑅. 𝐸. = 𝑎 + 𝑏 ∗ (𝑎𝑎 + 𝑏𝑏)

CS5113 Advanced Theory of Computation – by Dr. Aamer Nadeem Spring 2022 20

NFA – Examples
• Example 3
Σ = {𝑎 𝑏}
𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒?

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Regular Languages
Equivalence of DFA, NFA and RE
• DFA, NFA and Regular Expressions are equivalent
• In other words, any language that can be defined by one of these
methods, can also be defined by other two
• Every NFA can be converted to a DFA
• Every DFA can be converted to a regular expression
• Every regular expression can be converted to an NFA

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Regular Languages
• A language that can be defined by any of these methods:
• Regular expression
• DFA
• NFA

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Regular Languages
Theorem: All finite languages are regular
Proof: Let L be a finite language having n words as follows:
𝑤1 , 𝑤2 , 𝑤3 , … … , 𝑤𝑛
Then it is possible to write a regular expression for L as:
𝑤1 + 𝑤2 + 𝑤3 + … … + 𝑤𝑛
Therefore L is regular

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Closure Properties of
Regular Languages
Operations on Languages
• Basic operations on languages are:
• Union
• Intersection
• Difference
• Product
• Complement
• Kleene Closure

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Operations on Languages
• Example
Σ = {𝑎 𝑏}
𝐿1 = {𝑎𝑏 𝑏𝑏 𝑏𝑎𝑎}
𝐿2 = {𝑏𝑎 𝑏𝑏 𝑎𝑏𝑎}
𝐿1 ∪ 𝐿2 = {𝑎𝑏 𝑏𝑎 𝑏𝑏 𝑎𝑏𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑎}
𝐿1 ∩ 𝐿2 = {𝑏𝑏}
𝐿1 − 𝐿2 = {𝑎𝑏 𝑏𝑎𝑎}
𝐿1 𝐿2 = {𝑎𝑏𝑏𝑎 𝑎𝑏𝑏𝑏 𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑎 𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏 𝑎𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑎𝑏𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑎𝑏𝑏 𝑏𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑏𝑎}
𝐿′1 = {𝜀 𝑎 𝑏 𝑎𝑎 𝑏𝑎 𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑎𝑎𝑏 𝑎𝑏𝑎 𝑎𝑏𝑏 … … }
𝐿∗1 = {𝜀 𝑎𝑏 𝑏𝑏 𝑏𝑎𝑎 𝑎𝑏𝑎𝑏 𝑎𝑏𝑏𝑏 𝑏𝑏𝑎𝑏 𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏 𝑎𝑏𝑏𝑎𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑏 𝑏𝑎𝑎𝑏𝑏 … … }

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Closure w.r.t. Union Operation
Theorem: Let 𝐿1 and 𝐿2 be two regular languages, then so is 𝐿1 ∪ 𝐿2
Proof:
Let 𝐿1 and 𝐿2 be defined by regular expressions 𝑅1 and 𝑅2
respectively
Then 𝐿1 ∪ 𝐿2 can be defined by regular expression 𝑅1 + 𝑅2
Therefore 𝐿1 ∪ 𝐿2 is regular

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Closure w.r.t. Product Operation
Theorem: Let 𝐿1 and 𝐿2 be two regular languages, then so is 𝐿1 𝐿2
Proof:
Let 𝐿1 and 𝐿2 be defined by regular expressions 𝑅1 and 𝑅2
respectively
Then 𝐿1 𝐿2 can be defined by regular expression 𝑅1 𝑅2
Therefore 𝐿1 𝐿2 is regular

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Closure w.r.t. Kleene Closure Operation
Theorem: Let 𝐿 be a regular language, then so is 𝐿∗
Proof:
Let 𝐿 be defined by regular expression 𝑅
Then regular expression 𝑅∗ defines the language 𝐿∗
Therefore 𝐿∗ is regular

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Closure w.r.t. Complement Operation
Theorem: Let 𝐿 be a regular language, then so is 𝐿′
Proof:
Let 𝐿 be defined by FSA 𝐹
Then FSA 𝐹 ′ obtained by making all final states non-final and all
non-final states final will accept the language 𝐿′
Therefore 𝐿′ is regular

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Closure w.r.t. Intersection Operation
Theorem: Let 𝐿1 and 𝐿2 be two regular languages, then so is 𝐿1 ∩ 𝐿2
Proof:
Let 𝐿1 and 𝐿2 be regular languages
Then 𝐿′1 and 𝐿′2 both are regular languages
 𝐿′1 ∪ 𝐿′2 is a regular language
 (𝐿′1 ∪ 𝐿′2 )′ is a regular language
 𝐿1 ∩ 𝐿2 is a regular language [By DeMorgan’s Law]

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Closure w.r.t. Difference Operation
Theorem: Let 𝐿1 and 𝐿2 be two regular languages, then so is 𝐿1 − 𝐿2
Proof:
Let 𝐿1 and 𝐿2 be regular languages
Then 𝐿1 and 𝐿′2 both are regular languages
 𝐿1 ∩ 𝐿′2 is a regular language
 𝐿1 − 𝐿2 is a regular language [By Set Difference Law]

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Non-Regular Languages
Non-regular Languages
• Languages which cannot be defined by DFA, NFA or regular
expressions
• Example
𝐿 = 𝑎𝑛 𝑏 𝑛 𝑛 ∈ 𝑁}
• Why this language is non-regular?
• How can we define this language?

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Push Down Automata
Push Down Automata
• A Push Down Automaton (PDA) consists of
• A state machine
• A stack

• Each transition has 3 labels written as (𝑥, 𝑦/𝑧)

• 𝑥 is the input symbol; 𝑥 ∈ Σ where Σ is the alphabet set
• 𝑦 is the stack symbol (popped); 𝑦 ∈ Γ where Γ is the stack alphabet
• 𝑧 is the string pushed into stack; 𝑧 ∈ Γ ∗

• Two outgoing transitions from a state cannot have same 𝑥 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦

• If 𝑥 is 𝜀, there can be no non-𝜀 outgoing transition from that state
with same stack symbol 𝑦
• The stack has a special symbol 𝑍 at the bottom
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PDA Example 1
𝐿 = 𝑎𝑛 𝑏 𝑛 𝑛 ∈ 𝑁}

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PDA Example 2
• 𝐿 = 𝑎𝑛 𝑏 𝑛+2 𝑛 ∈ 𝑁}

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PDA Exercise 1
• 𝐿 = 𝑎𝑛+2 𝑏 𝑛 𝑛 ∈ 𝑁}

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PDA Example 3
• 𝐿 = 𝑎𝑛 𝑏 2𝑛 𝑛 ∈ 𝑁}

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PDA Example 4
• 𝐿 = 𝑎2𝑛 𝑏 𝑛 𝑛 ∈ 𝑁}

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Thank you!