(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2007) Merryman, William Patrick; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Rockford Ross
Many students may find the conversion of non-deterministic finite state automata into deterministic finite state automata to be difficult. Since standard computers are deterministic by nature, it is beneficial to understand how to convert nondeterministic finite state automata into equivalent deterministic versions. This conversion process is often inadequately presented in traditional textbooks, though, as static presentations rarely capture the dynamics of the process. This thesis provides a Java applet that will help students better understand the conversion, and may help teachers to better present the conversion. This applet was designed to be beneficial to student learning; therefore, many different learning modes were included.
