Turing Machines: an Introduction
CIT 596 – Theory of Computation 1 Turing Machines: An Introduction We have seen several abstract models of computing devices: Deterministic Finite Automata, Nondeterministic Finite Automata, Non- deterministic Finite Automata with ²-Transitions, Pushdown Automata, and Deterministic Pushdown Automata. However, none of the above “seem to be” as powerful as a real com- puter, right? We now turn our attention to a much more powerful abstract model of a computing device: a Turing machine. This model is believed to do everything that a real computer can do. °c Marcelo Siqueira — Spring 2005 CIT 596 – Theory of Computation 2 Turing Machines: An Introduction A Turing machine is somewhat similar to a finite automaton, but there are important differences: 1. A Turing machine can both write on the tape and read from it. 2. The read-write head can move both to the left and to the right. 3. The tape is infinite. 4. The special states for rejecting and accepting take immediate effect. °c Marcelo Siqueira — Spring 2005 CIT 596 – Theory of Computation 3 Turing Machines: An Introduction Formally, a Turing machine is a 7-tuple, (Q, Σ, Γ, δ, q0, qaccept, qreject), where Q is the (finite) set of states, Σ is the input alphabet such that Σ does not contain the special blank symbol t, Γ is the tape alphabet such that t∈ Γ and Σ ⊆ Γ, δ : Q × Γ → Q × Γ ×{L, R} is the transition function, q0 ∈ Q is the start state, qaccept ∈ Q is the accept state, and qreject ∈ Q is the reject state, where qaccept 6= qreject.
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