Abstract
Hopcroft’s algorithm for minimizing a deterministic automaton has complexity O(n log n). We show that this complexity bound is tight. More precisely, we provide a family of automata of size n = 2k on which the algorithm runs in time k2k. These automata have a very simple structure and are built over a one-letter alphabet. Their sets of final states are defined by de Bruijn words.
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Berstel, J., Carton, O. (2005). On the Complexity of Hopcroft’s State Minimization Algorithm. In: Domaratzki, M., Okhotin, A., Salomaa, K., Yu, S. (eds) Implementation and Application of Automata. CIAA 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3317. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30500-2_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30500-2_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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