finite-length sequence of elements of Σ. • The length of a string s, denoted by |s|, is the number of symbols in s. s = a a b a b where Σ = {a, b} |s| = 5 • The empty string (ϵ) is the unique string of length 0, i.e. |ϵ| = 0. • The set of all strings over Σ is denoted by Σ∗. {a, b}∗ = {ϵ, a, b, aa, ab, ba, bb, aa, aaa, aab, . . . } • Note: If Σ is nonempty, then Σ∗ is an infinite set of finite-length strings. Jaime Arias Computability and Complexity 12/24