In computer science, a '''deterministic automaton''' is a concept of automata theory where the outcome of a transition from one state to another is determined by the input.{{r|Anderson|page=41}}
A common deterministic automaton is a deterministic finite automaton (DFA) which is a finite state machine, where for each pair of state and input symbol there is one and only one transition to a next state. DFAs recognize the set of regular languages and no other languages.{{r|Anderson|page=52}}
A standard way to build a deterministic finite automaton from a nondeterministic finite automaton is the powerset construction.{{r|Anderson|page=44}}
==References== <references>
<ref name=Anderson>{{cite book | last=Anderson | first=James A. | title=Automata theory with modern applications | others=With contributions by Tom Head | location=Cambridge | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2006 | isbn=0-521-61324-8 | zbl=1127.68049}}</ref>
</references>
{{Formal languages and grammars}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deterministic Automaton}} Category:Automata (computation)
{{Comp-sci-theory-stub}}