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    Heloel Hernández
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    Undecidable

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    146 views42 pages

    Undecidable

    Uploaded by

    Heloel Hernández
    Undecidable

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 42

    Undecidable Problems

    (unsolvable problems)

    Decidable Languages

    Recall that:
    A language A is decidable,
    if there is a Turing machine M (decider)
    that accepts the language A and
    halts on every input string
    Decision
    On Halt:
    Turing Machine M
    YES
    Accept
    Input
    Decider for A
    string
    NO
    Reject

    A computational problem is decidable


    if the corresponding language is decidable

    We also say that the problem is solvable

    Problem: Does DFA M accept


    the empty language L(M ) ?

    Corresponding Language:
    X

    (Decidable)

    EMPTYDFA
    { M : M is a DFA that accepts empty language }

    Description of DFA M as a string

    (For example, we can represent M as a


    binary string, as we did for Turing machines)

    Decider for EMPTYDFA :


    On input M :
    Determine whether there is a path from
    the initial state to any accepting state

    Decision:

    DFA M

    DFA M

    L (M )

    L (M )

    Reject M

    Accept M

    Problem: Does DFA M accept


    a finite language?

    Corresponding Language:
    X

    (Decidable)

    FINITE DFA
    { M : M is a DFA that accepts a finite language }

    Decider for FINITE DFA :


    On input M :
    Check if there is a walk with a cycle
    from the initial state to an accepting state
    DFA M

    Decision:

    DFA M

    infinite

    finite

    Reject M
    (NO)

    Accept M
    (YES)

    Problem: Does DFA M

    Corresponding Language:
    X

    accept string w ?

    (Decidable)

    ADFA
    { M ,w : M is a DFA that accepts string w }

    Decider for ADFA :


    On input string M ,w :
    Run DFA M on input string w
    If M accepts w
    Then accept M ,w (and halt)
    Else reject M ,w (and halt)

    Problem: Do DFAs M1 and M2


    accept the same language?

    Corresponding Language:
    X

    (Decidable)

    EQUALDFA
    { M1 , M2 : M1 and M2 are DFAs that accept
    the same languages }

    Decider for EQUALDFA :


    On input
    Let
    Let

    M1 , M2 :

    L1 be the language of DFA M1


    L2 be the language of DFA M2

    Construct DFA M such that:

    L(M ) (L1 L2 ) (L1 L2 )


    (combination of DFAs)

    ( L1 L2 ) ( L1 L2 )
    L1 L2

    L1

    and

    L2 L
    2

    L1 L2

    L1 L2

    L2

    L1 L1

    L2 L1
    L1 L2

    ( L1 L2 ) ( L1 L2 )
    L1 L2

    L1

    or

    L1 L2

    L2

    L2

    L1 L2

    L1

    L2 L1
    L1 L2

    Therefore, we only need


    to determine whether

    L(M ) (L1 L2 ) (L1 L2 )


    which is a solvable problem for DFAs:

    EMPTYDFA

    Undecidable Languages
    undecidable language = not decidable language
    There is no decider:
    there is no Turing Machine
    which accepts the language
    and makes a decision (halts)
    for every input string
    (machine may make decision for some input strings)

    For an undecidable language,


    the corresponding problem is
    undecidable (unsolvable):
    there is no Turing Machine (Algorithm)
    that gives an answer (yes or no)
    for every input instance
    (answer may be given for some input instances)

    We have shown before that there are


    undecidable languages:

    L
    Turing-Acceptable

    Decidable

    is Turing-Acceptable and undecidable

    We will prove that two particular problems


    are unsolvable:

    Membership problem

    Halting problem

    Membership Problem
    Input:

    Turing Machine
    String w

    Question:

    Does M

    accept w ?

    w L(M ) ?

    Corresponding language:

    ATM { M ,w : M is a Turing machine that


    accepts string w }

    Theorem:

    ATM is undecidable
    (The membership problem is unsolvable)

    Proof:
    Basic idea:
    We will assume that ATM is decidable;
    We will then prove that
    every decidable language
    is Turing-Acceptable
    A contradiction!

    Suppose that
    Input
    string
    M ,w

    ATM is decidable

    Decider
    for ATM

    YES

    accepts

    NO

    rejects

    Let

    be a Turing recognizable language

    Let ML be the Turing Machine that accepts

    We will prove that

    is also decidable:

    we will build a decider for

    String description of ML
    Decider for

    ML

    Decider for ATM

    ML accepts s ?
    s

    Input
    string

    YES

    accept s

    (and halt)

    NO

    reject s
    (and halt)

    Therefore,

    is decidable

    Since L is chosen arbitrarily, every


    Turing-Acceptable language is decidable
    But there is a Turing-Acceptable language
    which is undecidable
    Contradiction!!!!

    END OF PROOF

    We have shown:
    Undecidable
    Decidable

    ATM

    We can actually show:

    Turing-Acceptable

    Decidable

    ATM

    ATM is Turing-Acceptable

    Turing machine that accepts


    1. Run M on input

    M ,w

    ATM :

    2. If M accepts w
    then accept M ,w

    Halting Problem
    Input:

    Turing Machine
    String w

    Question:

    Does M halt while


    processing input string w ?

    Corresponding language:

    HALTTM { M ,w : M is a Turing machine that


    halts on input string w }

    Theorem:

    HALTTM is undecidable
    (The halting problem is unsolvable)

    Proof:
    Basic idea:
    Suppose that HALTTM is decidable;
    we will prove that
    every decidable language
    is also Turing-Acceptable
    A contradiction!

    Suppose that

    HALTTM is decidable

    Input
    string

    M ,w
    M
    w

    Decider for

    HALTTM

    YES
    NO

    halts on
    input

    doesnt halt
    on input

    Let
    Let

    be a Turing-Acceptable language

    ML be the Turing Machine that accepts L

    We will prove that

    is also decidable:

    we will build a decider for

    Decider for
    ML

    s
    Input
    string

    Decider for
    HALTTM

    ML halts on s ?

    L
    NO
    YES
    ML halts

    Run ML
    with input s

    and accepts

    ML halts
    and rejects

    reject s
    and halt

    accept s
    and halt

    reject s
    and halt

    Therefore,

    is decidable

    Since L is chosen arbitrarily, every


    Turing-Acceptable language is decidable
    But there is a Turing-Acceptable language
    which is undecidable

    Contradiction!!!!

    END OF PROOF

    An alternative proof
    Theorem:

    HALTTM is undecidable
    (The halting problem is unsolvable)

    Proof:

    Basic idea:
    Assume for contradiction that
    the halting problem is decidable;
    we will obtain a contradiction
    using a diagonilization technique

    Suppose that
    Input
    string

    M ,w

    M
    w

    HALTTM is decidable

    Decider
    for HALTTM

    YES
    NO

    halts on

    doesnt
    halt on

    Looking inside

    Decider for HALTTM


    Input string:

    M ,w

    H
    q0

    qaccept YES

    halts on

    w?

    qreject NO

    Construct machine

    H
    M ,w

    H :
    Loop forever

    qacceptYES

    qa

    qb

    q0 M halts on w?
    qreject NO

    If

    M halts on input w Then Loop Forever


    Else Halt

    Construct machine F :

    F
    M

    Copy M
    on tape
    If

    M, M

    M halts on input M
    Then loop forever
    Else halt

    Run F

    with input itself

    F
    F
    If

    Copy F
    on tape

    F ,F

    F halts on input F
    Then F loops forever on input F
    Else F halts on input F
    CONTRADICTION!!!

    END OF PROOF

    We have shown:
    Undecidable HALTTM
    Decidable

    We can actually show:

    Turing-Acceptable

    Decidable

    HALTTM

    HALTTM is Turing-Acceptable
    Turing machine that accepts HALTTM :
    1. Run M on input

    M ,w

    2. If M halts on w
    then accept M ,w

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