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Module 5: Undecidability

20242m

Which of the following problems is undecidable?

(i) DFA acceptance
(ii) NFA acceptance
(iii) The Halting Problem
(iv) Regular expression matching

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Answer

Correct Option: (iii) The Halting Problem

Explanation

Decidability:

Problem Decidable?
DFA acceptance w∈L(DFA)w \in L(DFA)? Decidable — simulate DFA O(∣w∣)O(|w|)
NFA acceptance Decidable — subset simulation or convert to DFA
Regex matching w∈L(R)w \in L(R)? Decidable — convert to DFA/NFA
Emptiness L(DFA)=∅L(DFA)=\emptyset? Decidable
Halting Problem MM halts on ww? Undecidable (Turing 1936)

Proof sketch: Assume H(⟨M,w⟩)H(\langle M,w\rangle) decides halting, diagonalize with D(⟨M⟩)=D(\langle M\rangle)= loop if MM halts on ⟨M⟩\langle M\rangle else halt. D(⟨D⟩)D(\langle D\rangle) contradicts.

Final Answer

Undecidable is Halting Problem → Option (iii).

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