Class 13: State Machines

State Machines

A state machine is a binary relation (called a transition relation) on a set (both the domain and codomain are the same set). One state is designated as the start state.

$$M = (S, G: S \times S, q_0 \in S)$$

What does it mean if $G$ is total?

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What does it mean if $G$ is not a function?

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Parity Counter. Describe a state machine that determines if the number of steps is even.

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Unbounded Counter. Describe a state machine that counts the number of steps.

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How well do state machines model real computers? What kind of transition relation does the state machine modeling your computer have?

State Machine Execution

An execution of a state machine $M = (S, G \subseteq S \times S, q_0 \in S)$ is a (possibly infinite) sequence of states, $(x_0, x_1, \cdots, x_n)$ where:

1. $x_0 = q_0$ (it begins with the start state), and
2. $\forall i \in {0, 1, \ldots, n - 1} \ldotp (xi, x{i + 1}) \in G$ (if $q$ and $r$ are consecutive states in the sequence, then there is an edge $q \rightarrow r$ in $G$)

A state $q$ is reachable if it appears in some execution. (That is, there is a sequence of transitions starting from $q_0$, following edges in $G$, that ends with $q$.)

$$ M_1 = (S = \mathbb{N}, G = {(x, y) | y = x^2 }, q_0 = 1) $$ $$ M_2 = (S = \mathbb{N}, G = {(x, y) | \exists k \in \mathbb{N} \ldotp y = kx }, q_0 = 1) $$

Which states are reachable for $M_1$ and $M_2$?

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