State Transition System

In theoretical computer science, a state transition system is an abstract machine used in the study of computation. The machine consists of a set of states and transitions between states, which may be labeled with labels chosen from a set; the same label may appear on more than one transition. If the label set is a singleton, the system is essentially unlabeled, and a simpler definition that omits the labels is possible.

State transition systems coincide mathematically with abstract rewriting systems (as explained further in this article). State transition systems differ however from finite state automata in several ways:

  • In a state transition system the set of states is not necessarily finite, or even countable.
  • In a state transition system the set of transitions is not necessarily finite, or even countable.
  • A finite-state automaton distinguishes a special "start" state and a set of special "final" states.

State transition systems can be represented as directed graphs.

Read more about State Transition System:  Formal Definition, Relation Between Labelled and Unlabelled Transition Systems., Comparison With Abstract Rewriting Systems, Extensions

Famous quotes containing the words state, transition and/or system:

    “The Apache have a legend that the coyote brought them fire and that the bear in his hibernations communes with the spirits of the “overworld” and later imparts the wisdom gained thereby to the medicine men.”
    —Administration in the State of Arizona, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    “The god or hero of the sculptor is always represented in a transition from that which is representable to the senses, to that which is not.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “Exploitation and oppression is not a matter of race. It is the system, the apparatus of world-wide brigandage called imperialism, which made the Powers behave the way they did. I have no illusions on this score, nor do I believe that any Asian nation or African nation, in the same state of dominance, and with the same system of colonial profit-amassing and plunder, would have behaved otherwise.”
    —Han Suyin (b. 1917)