Alphabeta Math
PropositionStatement: Literature-sourcedProof: AI-generatedprecheck passaudited 2026-09-12
How statement and proof provenance work

The first chip identifies the source of the statement or construction; the second identifies the source of its local proof or verification.

  • Literature-sourced: the exact statement appears in a cited source; only wording and notation differ.
  • AI-adapted: a semantically identical restatement of literature-sourced material, modulo indexing, notation, and boundary cases adopted by the library.
  • AI-generated: a genuinely novel statement formulated by AI, with no source for the claim itself.

These labels describe origin, not correctness: citations and verification chips remain separate evidence.

Every DFA is an NFA

Statement

Let D=(Q,Σ,δ,q0,F) be a DFA. Then there is an NFA N over the same alphabet with L(N)=L(D).

Facts & Assumptions

Given: A DFA D=(Q,Σ,δ,q0,F).

[L1]

By Deterministic finite automata, for each (q,a)∈Q×Σ the DFA has exactly one next state δ(q,a).

[L2]

By Acceptance of a word by a DFA and the recognized language, a word w is accepted by D exactly when the DFA run from q0 on w ends in a state of F.

[L3]

By Acceptance of a word by an NFA and the recognized language, a word w is accepted by an NFA exactly when the reachable state set after reading w meets its accepting set.

Proof

technique · direct
1.1L1givenconstruct

Define an NFA N=(Q,Σ,η,q0,F) by η(q,a):={δ(q,a)} for a∈Σ and η(q,ε):=∅ for every state q. Step [L1] makes this well-defined, and N has the same states, start state, and accepting states as D.

2.1L1step 1.1induction

We claim that for every state q and every word w, the NFA reachable set from q on w is the singleton containing the DFA state reached from q on w. This is proved by induction on ∣w∣: for ε there are no ε-moves, so the reachable set is {q}; for wa, the NFA applies the same one-letter transition as the DFA and then again has no ε-moves.

3.1L2L3step 2.1∎

By step 2.1 and [L2], a word w reaches an accepting DFA state exactly when the NFA reachable set on w contains an accepting state. By [L3], this is exactly the NFA acceptance condition, so L(N)=L(D).

Depends on

Used by

Dependency tree · two levels

12 results within two dependency steps of this one, each drawn at its shortest distance from it. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, so the chart reads left to right and ends at this result, which carries a heavier outline. Every node is a link to that result. Click elsewhere on the chart to enlarge it.

Sources