ON FINITE AUTOMATA WITH LIMITED NONDETERMINISM (EXTENDED ABSTRACT)

We develop a new algorithm for determining if a given nondeterministic finite automaton is limited in nondeterminism. From this, we show that the number of nondeterministic moves of a finite automaton, if limited, is bounded by 2n - 2 where n is the number of states. If the finite automaton is over a one letter alphabet, using Gohon's result the number of nondeterministic moves, if limited, is less than n2. In both cases, we present families of finite automata demonstrating that the upper bounds obtained are almost tight.