Turing Machines

Wen-Guey Tzeng Department of Computer Science National Chiao Tung University

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Model

Definition
A Turing machine M is defined by M=(Q, , , , q0, , F)

Q: the set of internal states : the input alphabet : the tape alphabet : QQ{L,R}, the transition function : blank symbol q0Q: the initial state FQ: the set of final states
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Transition function
(q0, a)=(q1, d, R)

Example
M=({q0, q1}, {a,b}, {a, b, }, , q0, , {q1})
(q0, a)=(q0, b, R) (q0, b)=(q0, b, R) (q0, )=(q1, , L)

Transition graph
(q0, a)=(q0, b, R) (q0, b)=(q0, b, R) (q0, )=(q1, , L)

TM runs forever
Check TM on input aab

TM halts
A TM halts if it reaches a configuration that is not defined.
A TM on an input w may not halt. (Run forever) The halting of a TM on some input w does not mean w is accepted.

Standard TM
The tape is unbounded in both directions. All other cells are filled with blanks. It is deterministic. The input is on the tape in the beginning. No output devices. But, the left string on the tape can be viewed as output.

Instantaneous description (configuration)

x1qx2=a1a2ak-1 q akak+1an

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Example
M=({q0, q1}, {a,b}, {a, b, }, , q0, , {q1})
(q0, a)=(q0, b, R) (q0, b)=(q0, b, R) (q0, )=(q1, , L)

ID: q0aa, bq0a, bbq0, bq1b

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Move
q0aa bq1b bbq1 bq1b (halt)

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A computation
A sequence of configurations leading to a halt state.
q0aa bq1b bbq1 bq1b (halt)

x1qxq (inf)
The configuration leads to no halting states

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TM as language acceptors
The language accepted by M L(M)={w+: q0w* x1qfx2, qfF, x1, x2* } A language accepted by some TM is recursively enumerable.

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Example
Design a TM to accept the strings of form 00* The transition function
(q0, a)=(q0, 0, R) (q0, )=(q1, , R)

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 Design a TM to accept L={anbn : n1} Idea:

Loop
Mark leftmost a as x in the tape Move all the way right to mark b as y

After marking all as, move all the way right to find

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 Mark leftmost a as x in the tape

(q0, a)=(q1, x, R)

Move all the way right to mark b as y

(q1, a)=(q1, a, R) (q1, y)=(q1, y, R) (q1, b)=(q2, y, L)

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 Move back to mark leftmost a as x

(q2, y)=(q2, y, L) (q2, a)=(q2, a, L) (q2, x)=(q0, x, R)

After marking all as, move all the way right to find
(q0, y)=(q3, y, R) (q3, y)=(q3, y, R) (q3, )=(q4, , R)

If in the middle b is encountered, TM stops.

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 Run q0aabb

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TM as transducers
To compute a function f(w)=w, where w, w are strings
q0w* qf w

A function f:DR is TM-computable if there is a TM M=(Q, , , , q0, , F) such that q0w* qf w for all wD

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Example
Given two positive integer x and y, compute x+y
x and y are unary-represented Eg. X=3, w(x)=111 Input: w(x)0w(y) Output: w(x+y)0 That is, q0w(x)0w(y)qfw(x+y)0

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 The transition function

(q0, 1)=(q0, 1, R) (q0, 0)=(q1, 1, R) (q1, 1)=(q1, 1, R) (q1, )=(q2, , R) (q2, 1)=(q3, 0, R) (q3, 1)=(q3, 1, L) (q3, )=(q4, , R)

Run q0111011

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Example
Design a TM to compute q0w* qfww, w=1+ Steps
1. Replace every 1 by x 2. Find the rightmost x and replace it with 1 3. Travel to the right end and create 1 (in replace of ) 4. Repeat 2 and 3 until there are no xs

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Run q011

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Example
Design a TM to compute q0w(x)0w(y)* qyw(x)0w(y) if xy q0w(x)0w(y)* qNw(x)0w(y) if x<y
Design a TM to compute q0w(x)0w(y)* qfw(xy)

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Combining TM for complicated tasks

Design a TM to compute f(x,y)=x+y if xy f(x,y)=0 if x<y

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 qC,0w(x)0w(y) * qA,0w(x)0w(y) if xy * qE,0w(x)0w(y) if x<y qA,0w(x)0w(y) * qA,fw(x+y)0 qE,0w(x)0w(y) * qE,f 0

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Example
if a then qj else qk
(qi, a)=(qj0, a, R), for qiQ (qj0, c)=(qj, c, L), for all c (qi, b)=(qk0, b, R) for b-{a} (qk0, c)=(qk, c, L), for all c

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Example
Design a TM for q0w(x)0w(y)* qfw(xy) Steps
Loop until x contains no more 1s
Find a 1 in x and replace it with another a Replace leftmost 0 by 0y

Replace all as with 1s

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Macroinstructionssubprogram
A calls B

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Turings Thesis
Mechanical computation
Computation without intervention of humans

Turing Thesis: any computation that can be carried out by mechanical means can be performed by some Turing machine. Some call it Church-Turing Thesis
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 Reasoning:
Anything that can be done by an existing digital computer can be done by a TM No one has yet been able to suggest a problem, solvable by algorithms, that cannot be solved by some TM Other models are proposed. But, they are no more powerful than TMs

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Algorithms
An algorithm for a functin f:DR is a Turing machine such that q0d* qff(d) for all dD

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