Computability

How do we specify the elements of a set?

There are two simple ways as stated below.

I) Exhaustively list all elements in the set (finite). For example, {9, 16, 25, 36, 49}.
II) Specify the properties that uniquely characterize the elements in the set {X | X is a perfect
square 9<= X <= 49}

In case of (2) there is a possible pitfall. Consider the set S = {X | X ε X}. X is an element of S if X

ε S. Assume that X ε S. Then X should be an element of S – a self-contradictory statement. This

indicates that it is not always the case that we can precisely specify the elements of a set by specifying
the properties of the elements of the set. Such an observation was first made by B. Russell in 1911 and
is referred to as Russell’s paradox.

RUSSELL’S PARADOX and NON-COMPUTABILITY

Example-1:
There is a barber in a small village. He will shave everybody who does not shave himself. It seems that
we have a precise definition of a certain barber in the village. However, suppose the question whether
the barber shaves himself is raised. If the barber shaves himself then he should not shave himself
(because he only shaves those who do not shave themselves). What is wrong in our way of specifying
the barber? We conclude no such barber can exist.

Example 2:
There were 2 craftsmen Bellini and Cellini. Whatever Bellini made he always put a true inscription on
it. On the other hand, whatever Cellini made he always put a false inscription on it. If they be the only
craftsmen around, what should you say if it was reported that the following sign was displayed?

The sign was made by Cellini.

We point out that no computer can perform a certain task.
Is it possible to write a program that will examine any student’s program together with the data it works
and reports whether the program will ever stop? We can show that such a program does not exist.

As it turns out that there will be no confusion in specifying a set by using characterizing properties of
the elements of the set as long as we are careful to a certain universe of elements. For example, let A
denote the set of all students. Then the following sets are clearly well-defined.
F = {X | Xε Α is freshman}

G = {X | X ε P( Α ), X is set of students in a living group}

In the first example, A is universe. In the second P(A) is the universe. We observe here that Russell’s
paradox will arise again, if we use as an universe a set containing all the sets of the world.

However, it can be shown that there does not exist a set that contains all the sets in the world ( does that
set contain itself as an element?). Indeed Russell’s paradox is equivalent to the assumption of the
existence of such a set.

FINITE STATE MACHINES

By an information processing machine we mean a device that receives a set of input signals and
produces a corresponding set of output signals.

Input
Information Output
Signals
Signals Processing
Machine

A table lamp can be considered as an information processing machine with the input signal being either
up or down and output signal being either LIGHT or DARK. In general, an information processing
machine receives a (time) sequence of input signals and output signals. For example,

Input :: UP DOWN DOWN UP DOWN UP UP

Output :: LIGHT DARK DARK LIGHT DARK LIGHT LIGHT

Example-1:
Consider a machine that accepts a sequence of positive integer between 1 to 100 and produces at any
instant the largest integer that machine has so far received as output illustrated in the figure.

....3,4,9,7,5,7,3,4 ….9,9,9,7,7,7,4,4
 F      S       M
For this machine the summary of the past history can be reported by an integer equal to the largest
integer it has received. Consequently, the machine may have 101 states corresponding to 0,1,……100
representing the largest integer the machine has received.

The Abstract model of FSM is simplified by,

1. A finite set of states S = {S0, S1, S2,………..}
2. A special element so called Initial State.
3. A finite set of input letters I = {i1 , i2 , i3 ,…….}
4. A finite set of output letters O = {O1, O2, O3,…….}
5. A function f from SxI to S referred to as the transition function.
6. A function g from S to O, referred to as the Output function.
At any instant a FSM is in one of its states upon the arrival of an input letter, the machine will go to
another state according to the transition function. We can represent FSM by a table or graph.

Questions:
1. What is the state of a machine?
2. What is the meaning of paradox?
3. I was roaming in a sea and arrived at an island where a stranger told me - “Sir, the island is
otherwise safe but please take anybody’s help with a grain of salt and mirchie.” What is my
conclusion?