CSCI 2670

Introduction to Theory of
Computing

September 28, 2005

 Agenda
• This week
– Turing machines
– Read section 3.1

September 28, 2005

 Announcements
• Tests will be returned tomorrow
• Tutorial sessions are suspended until
further notice
– Extended office hours while tutorials
are suspended
• Monday 11:00 – 12:00
• Tuesday 3:00 – 4:00
• Wednesday 3:00 – 5:00

September 28, 2005

 Recap to date
• Finite automata (both deterministic
and nondeterministic) machines
accept regular languages
– Weakness: no memory
• Pushdown automata accept context-
free grammars
– Add memory in the form of a stack
– Weakness: stack is restrictive

September 28, 2005

 Turing machines
• Similar to a finite automaton
– Unrestricted memory in the form of a
tape
• Can do anything a real computer can
do!
– Still cannot solve some problems
• Church-Turing thesis: any effective
computation can be carried out by
some Turing machine
September 28, 2005
 Touring machine schematic

Control
a b a ~

• Initially tape contains the input string

– Blanks everywhere else (denoted ~ in
class … different symbol in book)
• Machine may write information on the
tape

September 28, 2005

 Touring machine schematic

Control
a b a ~

• Can move tape head to read

information written to tape
• Continues computing until output
produced
– Output values accept or reject

September 28, 2005

 Touring machine schematic

Control
a b a ~

• Turing machine results

– Accept
– Reject
– Never halts
• We may not be able to tell result by
observation
September 28, 2005
 Differences between TM and FA
1. TM has tape you can read from and
write to
2. Read-write head can be moved in
either direction
3. Tape is infinite
4. Accept and reject states take
immediate effect

September 28, 2005

 Example
• How can we design a Turing machine
to find the middle of a string?
– If string length is odd, return middle
symbol
– If string length is even, reject string
• Make multiple passes over string Xing
out symbols at end until only middle
remains

September 28, 2005

 Processing input
1. Check if string is empty
 If so, return reject
2. Write X over first and last non-X symbols
 After this, the head will be at the second X
3. Move left one symbol
 If symbol is an X, return reject (string is
even in length)
4. Move left one symbol
 If symbol is an X, return accept (string is
even in length)
5. Go to step 2
September 28, 2005
 Example
• 00110~
– First check if string is empty
– X first and last non-X symbols
• X011X~
– Move left one symbol
• X011X~
– Is symbol an X? No
– Move left one symbol
• X011X~
– Is symbol an X? No
– Write X over first and last non-X symbols
September 28, 2005
 Example
• XX1XX~
– Move left one symbol
• XX1XX~
– Is symbol an X? No
– Move left one symbol
• XX1XX~
– Is symbol an X? Yes
– Return accept

September 28, 2005

 Formal definition of a TM
Definition: A Turing machine is a 7-
tuple (Q,,,,q0,qaccept,qreject), where
Q, , and  are finite sets and
1. Q is the set of states,
2.  is the input alphabet not
containing the special blank symbol ~
3.  is the tape alphabet, where ~
and ,
4. : QQ{L,R} is the transition
function,
September 28, 2005
 What is the Transition Function??
Q = set of states,  = tape alphabet
: QQ{L,R}
Given:
• The current internal state  Q
• The symbol on the current tape cell
Then  tells us what the TM does:
• Changes to new internal state  Q
• Either writes new symbol  
• Or moves oneSeptember
cell28,left
2005 or right
 Formal definition of a TM
Definition: A Turing machine is a 7-
tuple (Q,,,,q0,qaccept,qreject), where
Q, , and  are finite sets and
5. q0Q is the start state,
6. qacceptQ is the accept state, and
7. qrejectQ is the reject state, where
qrejectqaccept

September 28, 2005

 Computing with a TM
• M receives input w = w1w2…wn* on
leftmost n squares of tape
– Rest of tape is blank (all ~ symbols)
• Head position begins at leftmost
square of tape
• Computation follows rules of 
• Head never moves left of leftmost
square of the tape
– If  says to move L, head stays put!
September 28, 2005
 Completing computation
• Continue following  transition rules
until M reaches qaccept or qreject
– Halt at these states
• May never halt if the machine never
transitions to one of these states!

September 28, 2005

 Another TM example
• We want to create a TM to add two
numbers
• Use a simple tape alphabet {0,1} plus
the blank symbol
• Represent a number n by a string of
n+1 1’s terminated by a zero
• Input to compute 3+4 looks like this:

September 28, 2005

 Result of the TM addition example
• Note that the TM is initially positioned on
the leftmost cell of the input.
• When the TM halts in the accept state, it
must also be on the leftmost cell of the
output:

September 28, 2005

Breaking down the addition problem
• Good computer scientists like to
simplify
• A successor TM appends a 1 to the
right end of a string of 1’s

September 28, 2005

 The successor subroutine

• The TM starts in the initial state s0,

positioned on the leftmost of a string of 1’s
• If it sees a 1, it writes a 1, moves right,
and stays in state s0
• If it sees a 0, it September
writes a 1 and moves to
28, 2005
Successor subroutine state transitions
• <s0, 1, s0, » >
• < s0, 0, s1, 1 >
• < s1, 1, s1, « >
• < s1, 0, s2, » >
(original state, input, new state, action)

September 28, 2005

 TM state interpretation
• S0 – the TM has seen only 1’s so far
and is scanning right
• S1 – the TM has seen its first zero
and is scanning left
• S2 – the TM has returned to the
leftmost 1 and halts.
View movie of this TM

September 28, 2005

 From successor TM to addition TM
• The successor TM will join the two blocks
of n+1 1’s and m+1 1’s into a single block of
n+m+3 1’s
• To complete the computation, knock off
two 1’s from left end (states s2 and s3)

September 28, 2005

 TM configurations
• The configuration of a Turing machine
is the current setting
– Current state
– Current tape contents
– Current tape location
• Notation uqv
– Current state = q
– Current tape contents = uv
• Only ~ symbols after last symbol of v
– Current tape location = first symbol of v
September 28, 2005
 Acknowledgements
• TM addition example from Stanford,
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing-machine/

September 28, 2005