Revisiting the Equivalence Problem for Finite Multitape Automata [chapter]

James Worrell
2013 Lecture Notes in Computer Science  
The decidability of determining equivalence of deterministic multitape automata (or transducers) was a longstanding open problem until it was resolved by Harju and Karhumäki in the early 1990s. Their proof of decidability yields a co-NP upper bound, but apparently not much more is known about the complexity of the problem. In this paper we give an alternative proof of decidability, which follows the basic strategy of Harju and Karhumäki but replaces their use of group theory with results on
more » ... ix algebras. From our proof we obtain a simple randomised algorithm for deciding language equivalence of deterministic multitape automata and, more generally, multiplicity equivalence of nondeterministic multitape automata. The algorithm involves only matrix exponentiation and runs in polynomial time for each fixed number of tapes. If the two input automata are inequivalent then the algorithm outputs a word on which they differ. ⋆ Supported by EPSRC grant EP/G069727/1.
doi:10.1007/978-3-642-39212-2_38 fatcat:7sahmfxpqngl5i3ry6amlaeumm