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Hopcroft's algorithm and tree-like automata

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

G. Castiglione ,
A. Restivo  and
M. Sciortino
G. Castiglione
Affiliation:
Università di Palermo, Dipartimento di Matematica e Applicazioni, via Archirafi, 34, 90123 Palermo, Italy; giusi@math.unipa.it
A. Restivo
Affiliation:
Università di Palermo, Dipartimento di Matematica e Applicazioni, via Archirafi, 34, 90123 Palermo, Italy; giusi@math.unipa.it
M. Sciortino
Affiliation:
Università di Palermo, Dipartimento di Matematica e Applicazioni, via Archirafi, 34, 90123 Palermo, Italy; giusi@math.unipa.it
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Abstract

Minimizing a deterministic finite automata (DFA) is a very important problem in theory of automata and formal languages. Hopcroft's algorithm represents the fastest known solution to the such a problem. In this paper we analyze the behavior of this algorithm on a family binary automata, called tree-like automata, associated to binary labeled trees constructed by words. We prove that all the executions of the algorithm on tree-like automata associated to trees, constructed by standard words, have running time with the same asymptotic growth rate. In particular, we provide a lower and upper bound for the running time of the algorithm expressed in terms of combinatorial properties of the trees. We consider also tree-like automata associated to trees constructed by de Brujin words, and we prove that a queue implementation of the waiting set gives a Θ(n log n) execution while a stack implementation produces a linear execution. Such a result confirms the conjecture given in [A. Paun, M. Paun and A. Rodríguez-Patón. Theoret. Comput. Sci.410 (2009) 2424–2430.] formulated for a family of unary automata and, in addition, gives a positive answer also for the binary case.

Keywords

Automata minimizationHopcroft's algorithmword trees
Type
Research Article
Information
RAIRO - Theoretical Informatics and Applications , Volume 45 , Issue 1: ICTCS 09 , January 2011 , pp. 59 - 75
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, 2011

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References

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