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TheoremStatement: Literature-sourcedProof: AI-generatedprecheck passaudited 2026-09-12
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  • AI-adapted: a semantically identical restatement of literature-sourced material, modulo indexing, notation, and boundary cases adopted by the library.
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Minimal DFAs are unique up to start-state-preserving isomorphism

Statement

If two DFAs are minimal among the DFAs recognizing the same regular language L, then there is an isomorphism between them that sends the start state of one to the start state of the other.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: Minimal DFAs D1 and D2 recognizing the same regular language L.

[L1]

By Nerode classes form the canonical minimal DFA, the Nerode-class DFA DL is a minimal DFA for L.

[L2]

By Reachable states of a DFA, a state is reachable exactly when some input word leads to it from the start state.

[L3]

By Removing unreachable states preserves the recognized language, deleting unreachable states preserves the recognized language.

Proof

technique · direct
1.1

A minimal DFA has no unreachable states. Indeed, if Di had an unreachable state, then [L3] would remove it without changing the language, contradicting minimality.

L3given
2.1

Let DL be the canonical Nerode-class DFA from [L1]. Because step 1.1 shows that every state of Di is reachable, for each state q of Di we may choose a word u with δi(q0,i,u)=q, which is possible by [L2], and send q to the Nerode class [u]. If two words u,v reach the same state q, then every continuation is accepted or rejected identically from that state, so u and v determine the same Nerode class. Thus the map is well defined. For any Nerode class [u], the state reached by Di on u maps to [u], so the map is surjective onto the state set of DL.

L1L2step 1.1construct
3.1

Both Di and DL are minimal DFAs for L: Di by hypothesis and DL by [L1]. Therefore their finite state sets have the same cardinality. The surjection from step 2.1 between finite sets of equal size is therefore a bijection.

L1step 2.1given
4.1

The bijection of steps 2.1 and 3.1 sends the start state to [ε], and its definition via reaching words shows that it preserves letter transitions and accepting states. Hence each Di is pointed-isomorphic to DL, so D1 and D2 are pointed-isomorphic to one another.

step 2.1step 3.1

Depends on

Used by

Nothing in the library uses this result yet.

Dependency tree · two levels

7 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