Saturday, June 17, 2006

The pumping lemma

Let L be a regular language. Then there exists a constant n such that for every string w in L such that w>=n, we can break w into three strings w=xyz such that
i. y not equal to epsilon
ii. xy<=n
iii. for all k>=0, the string xy to the power k,z is also in L

The famed pumping lemma theoran which is driving me nuts, welcome to the world of vtu, where nothing makes sense and the only thing which helps u is your memory. The biggest question mark ever comes to mind when I read through this

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

words at wedding

My cousin got married recently and since it was a rather small gathering I got to listen to quite a few comments about the wedding from the fellow guests. Other than a few older guests nobody seemed to be interested in the ceremony, which is generally the case in our weddings cause the rituals are so tedious and most of us cannot understand what is being said. The centre of attraction is for sure the bride, every one was taking in every tiny detail of her ensemble and the comments ranged from disparaging to complimentary. "My, goodness isn't she looking so jaded, and the colur doesn't suit her at all, after all she is so old and I am sure the groom is two or three years younger than her" said a heavily adorned woman with a conciliatory air. " Look who's talking" whispered my aunt," she married a man 10 years younger than her after they bribed him with money, lands and a house and he was just an employee in her father's office, and he was already married." I guess a wedding is a nice place to rake up scandals. Another reason why people come to weddings is to hunt for prospective grooms and brides. Anyone without a husband on her arm is fair bait. "mmm, what about that girl, the one with the long hair and the lovely ruby pendant","oh I wouldn't, I heard that the mother goes to the gym in shorts, u don't want to be in-laws with such people do u?". "How about the one in the green silk saree"," her mother falls ill a lot, do u want your grandchildren to be weaklings". "I am sorry for this tall girl in front of me, they will never find a boy who's taller than her and she might never marry." This last shot being directed at me, made me bubble over with mirth at the same time trying to calm both my aunt and mother who were shooting poisonous looks at the author of this outrage. Who says weddings are boring? Not me anymore for sure.