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Would appreciate if you could take a look at what I did and help me finish it.

Given a pushdown automaton that accepts a language $L$ by final state, construct a pushdown automaton that accepts $L^*$. Use a "double bottom" if need be.

My attempt:

Given $M = (Q,\Sigma,Γ,\delta,q_0,⊥,∅)$, we'll add a double bottom by altering the function: $\delta' := \delta'(q_0',\epsilon, ⊥')={(q_0, ⊥⊥)}$, so M' is basically $M' = (Q\cup{q_0',q_f},\Sigma,Γ∪{⊥'},\delta',q_0',⊥',{q_f})$. The accepting state is reached by $\forall q \in Q\colon \delta' (q,\epsilon,⊥')={(q_f,⊥')}$.

How do I finish it so that it accepts $L^*$?

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  • $\begingroup$ "$M = (Q,\Sigma,Γ,\delta,q_0,⊥,\emptyset)$". By $\emptyset$, do you mean $M$ has no accepting state? $\endgroup$
    – John L.
    Commented Jan 15, 2019 at 17:22
  • $\begingroup$ Do you have a specific question? $\endgroup$
    – Raphael
    Commented Jan 16, 2019 at 12:03

1 Answer 1

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The Kleene star is, as you know, the union $\bigcup_n L^n$ of arbitrary powers $L\cdot L\cdot\ldots\cdot L$ of $L$.

If $M$ is the automaton that accepts $L$, then in order to make an automaton for $L^*$ you basically have to make it possible to restart the automaton after accepting $L$. Be careful in choosing final state or empty stack acceptance.

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