Abstract
A counting finite-state automaton is a nondeterministic finite-state automaton which, on an input over its input alphabet, (magically) writes in binary the number of accepting computations on the input. We examine the complexity of computing the counting function of an NFA, and the complexity of recognizing its range as a set of binary strings. We also consider the pumping behavior of counting finite-state automata. The class of functions computed by counting NFA's
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(1)
includes a class of functions computed by deterministic finite-state transducers;
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(2)
is contained in the class of functions computed by polynomially time- and linearly space-bounded Turing transducers;
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(3)
includes a function whose range is the composite numbers.
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© 1988 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Rich, C.A., Slutzki, G. (1988). The complexity of a counting finite-state automaton. In: Nori, K.V., Kumar, S. (eds) Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science. FSTTCS 1988. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 338. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-50517-2_83
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-50517-2_83
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