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(This is the problem 1.56 from Michael Sipser' Introduction to the theory of computation )

Let
$A_k(S)= \{ w |w \text{ is the k-basis representation}$
$\text{ without leading 0 of some natural number in the set S}\} $

Example : $A_2 (\{3,5\}) = \{11,101\} $

Let the statement $ P = \exists S \text{, a set of natural number where} A_2(S) \text{ is regular and }A_3(S) \text{ isn't.} $

Is $P$ true ?

I think that $P$ is false.

Let's consider two case :

$S$ is finite :

Write a (possibly very long) regular expression which is the union of all of the k-basis representation strings of the numbers in $S$ no matter what $k$ is.

$S$ is infinite :

Construct a NFA $N$ that recognize $A_k(S)$ with :
$\text{For each symbol }e\in\Sigma\smallsetminus 0, \space$ $\delta(q_{initial},e) = q_{begin},\space q_{begin} \in F $ $\text{For each symbol }e\in\Sigma,\space \delta(q_{begin},e) = q_e ,\space \delta(q_e,\varepsilon) = q_{begin},\space q_e \in F $

Am i correct ? (I think I'm not but I'm stuck with this, maybe I don't get the definition of $A$ correctly ).

tumasgiu
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1 Answers1

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Hint: For most infinite $S$, the languages $A_2(S),A_3(S)$ will both not be regular. Find some set $S$ for which $A_2(S)$ is regular (since the binary representations of numbers in $S$ are very simple), and with any luck $A_3(S)$ won't be regular. (Don't choose $S = \mathbb{N}$ or $S = \{ ax+b : x \in \mathbb{N} \}$.)

Yuval Filmus
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  • I'm not so sure... the relation between bases is not that off the wall. It is simple to prove that e.g. $n \equiv a \pmod{m}$ is regular on any base, for any $a$ and $m$. – vonbrand May 09 '13 at 01:54
  • I was thinking of the set $S = { 2^k-1 : k \geq 0 }$, for which $A_2(S) = 1*$, while $A_3(S)$ is probably not regular. – Yuval Filmus May 09 '13 at 01:58