UMBC CMSC451, Automata Theory & Formal Languages, Spring 2007


Homework Assignments


Homework 1, Due Tuesday 02/06

  1. Draw the transition diagram for a DFA D1 for the language:
    L1 = { w ∈ {0,1}* | w does not contain the substring 11 }.

  2. Prove that your DFA D1 does indeed recognize L1. That is, L(D1) = L1.
    Note: you must prove set containment in both direction, that L(D1) ⊆ L1 and that L1 ⊆ L(D1).

  3. Draw the transition diagram for a DFA D3 for the language:
    L3 = { w ∈ {0,1}* | w contains an even number of 0's and at most one 1 }.

  4. Prove that your DFA D3 does indeed recognize L3. That is, L(D3) = L3.
    The note in Question 2 applies equally here.


Homework 2, Due Tuesday 02/13

  1. Exercise 2.3.2.
  2. Exercise 2.3.4, part b.
  3. Exercise 2.3.4, part c.
  4. Construct an NFA with 3 states for the following language:

        L = { ab, abc }*

    That is, L is the set of strings w such that w is either the empty string, or w = w1w2w3...wm where each wi is either ab or abc.


Homework 3, Due Tuesday 02/20

  1. Exercise 3.1.1, parts b & c.
  2. Exercise 3.1.2, part b.
  3. Exercise 3.2.3.
  4. Exercise 3.2.6, parts c & d.


Homework 4, Due Tuesday 02/27

  1. Exercise 4.1.1, part e.
  2. Exercise 4.1.2, part c.
  3. Exercise 4.1.2, part e.
  4. Exercise 4.1.2, part h.


Homework 5, Due Tuesday 03/06

  1. Exercise 4.2.6, parts a & b.
  2. Exercise 4.2.13, part b.
  3. Exercise 4.3.2.
    Note: You do not have to worry about the algorithm being efficient. However, you should make sure that your algorithm doesn't run forever.
  4. Exercise 4.3.4.


Homework 6, Due Tuesday 03/13

When you are asked to provide a context-free grammar (CFG), briefly describe the purpose of each variable of your CFG and comment the "interesting" productions.
  1. Exercise 4.4.2.

  2. Provide CFGs for the following languages:

    1. L = { w ∈ {a, b}* | the number of a's in w does not equal the number of b's in w }

    2. L = { anbmck | n = m or m ≠ k }

    3. L = { anbmck | n + 2m = k }

  3. Prove that your grammar for 2a above correctly generates the specified language.

  4. Exercise 5.1.1, part d.


Homework 7, Due Tuesday 04/03

Note: When the question asks you to "design a PDA", you should give a brief high-level English description of your PDA first. (E.g., "push X whenever a 0 is read...") Then, give the transition diagram, transition table or mathematically defined transition function.
  1. Exercise 6.1.1, parts b & c.
  2. Exercise 6.2.1, parts b & c.
  3. Exercise 6.2.3, parts a & b.
  4. Exercise 6.2.6, parts a & b.


Homework 8, Due Tuesday 04/10

  1. Exercise 7.2.1, part b.
  2. Exercise 7.2.1, part c.
  3. Exercise 7.2.1, part e.
  4. Exercise 7.2.1, part f.


Homework 9, Due Tuesday 04/17

  1. Exercise 7.4.1, part b.
  2. Exercise 7.4.2, part b.
  3. Exercise 8.2.2, parts b & c.
  4. Exercise 8.2.3, parts a & b.


Homework 10, Due Tuesday 04/24

  1. Exercise 8.4.3, part b.

  2. Exercise 8.4.9.
    N.B.: a k-head TM does not "know" whether two (or more) of its tape heads are reading the same tape cell --- it only "knows" that the heads are reading the same symbol, which could be from different tape cells holding the same symbol.

  3. Exercise 8.4.10.
    N.B.: a multi-tape TM can have only a constant number of tapes --- i.e., you are not allowed to have more tapes for longer inputs or to increase the number of tapes in the middle of a computation.

  4. Exercise 8.5.1, part d.
    N.B.: by definition (in this textbook) a counter machine is deterministic.
    Hint: store 2i3j5k in one counter using a second counter as a "helper".


Homework 11, Due Tuesday 05/01

Note: Recall that the lowest homework grade is dropped only from the first 10 homework assignments.
  1. Exercise 9.1.3, part b.
  2. Exercise 9.2.6, parts c & d.
  3. Exercise 9.3.3.
  4. Exercise 9.3.7, part b.


Homework 12, Due Tuesday 05/08

Note: Recall that the lowest homework grade is dropped only from the first 10 homework assignments.

  1. Exercise 9.3.4, part a.

  2. Exercise 9.3.4, part b.

  3. Define the language SQUARE as follows:
    SQUARE = { < M > | M is a TM and for all n, M halts in ≤ n2 steps on inputs of length n }
    Show that for Le = { < M > | M is a TM and L(M) = ∅ }, Lem SQUARE.

  4. Consider the following language concerning pushdown automata (PDAs):
    DOUBLE = { < P > | P is a PDA and L(P) contains at least one string of the form zz for some z ∈ {0,1,#}* }
    Show that DOUBLE is undecidable. Hint: use computation histories twice.


Homework 13, Due Tuesday 05/15

Note: Recall that the lowest homework grade is dropped only from the first 10 homework assignments.
  1. In each of the following languages, <Gi> is an encoding of a context-free grammar. State whether each language is decidable or undecidable. Justify briefly.

  2. Exercise 9.3.4, part c.
    Note: You may use the fact that we already know certain languages are not recursively enumerable, (e.g., Le, the complement of Lu, and the complements of the different versions of the halting problem K).

  3. A set X is cofinite if its complement is finite. Every cofinite set is infinite, but some infinite sets are not cofinite. For example, the set of natural numbers larger than 10 is cofinite, but the set of even numbers is not. Define
    COFINITE = { < M > | M is a TM and L(M) is cofinite }
    Express COFINITE using ∃ and/or ∀ quantifiers over strings and/or numbers and a decidable predicate.

  4. Prove that COFINITE is not decidable. Note: Prove this directly, do not use Rice's Theorem.


Last Modified: 6 May 2007 22:46:39 EDT by Richard Chang
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