On this page:
1 Mapping Reducibility Step 2:   If-and-only-if
2 Re-Proving A_  TM Undecidable
3 No Mapping Red
4 More If-and-only-if Practice

Homework 10

Last updated: Mon, 21 Nov 2022 18:07:09 -0500

Out: Tue Nov 22, 00:00 EST Due: Mon Dec 05, 23:59 EST (2 weeks, due to Thanksgiving break)

This assignment explores mapping reducibility.

Homework Problems

  1. Mapping Reducibility Step 2: If-and-only-if (5 + 6 = 11 points)

  2. Re-Proving A_TM Undecidable (10 points)

  3. No Mapping Red (10 points)

  4. More If-and-only-if Practice (10 points)

  5. README (1 point)

Total: 42 points

Submitting

Submit your solution to this assignment in Gradescope hw10. Please assign each page to the correct problem and make sure your solutions are legible.

A submission must also include a README containing the required information.

1 Mapping Reducibility Step 2: If-and-only-if

In class, we learned an alternate way to do undecidability proofs using mapping reducibility.

Specifically, showing mapping reducibility between two languages requires two steps:
  1. creating a computable function between the two languages, and

  2. showing an if-and-only-if statement (which itself has two parts) holds for that computable function.

We then started to re-prove that some languages are undecidable using mapping reducibility. Specifically,

2 Re-Proving A_TM Undecidable

Prove (again) that A_\textsf{TM} is undecidable.

This time, however, you must reduce from the \textit{CS420}_\textsf{F22} language from the Trying To Decide About CS 420, Fall 2022 problem in Homework 9.

Also, you must use mapping reducibility.

Hints:
  • Remember that mapping reducibility has two parts: a computable function, and an if-and-only-if statement (which itself has two parts).

  • Your answer must be a full proof of undecidability, i.e., the proof should conclude with something like "therefore A_{\textsf{TM}} is undecidable". In particular, mapping reducibility by itself is insufficient for proving undecidability

3 No Mapping Red

In problem Mapping Reducibility Step 2: If-and-only-if, it was mentioned that we showed there is a computable function mapping from A_\textsf{TM} to \overline{E}_\textsf{TM}. Explain why there cannot exist a mapping reduction from A_\textsf{TM} to E_\textsf{TM}?

4 More If-and-only-if Practice

Say that we are given some language L.

Prove the following statement:

L is Turing-Recognizable if-and-only-if L is mapping reducible to A_\textsf{TM}