All of the finite automata have been deterministic. This means that for any combination of state and input symbol there is exactly one transition defined
There are advantages to this
- Easier to trace a string through the finite automata
Also some disadvantages
- Can make it harder to design
Example on whiteboard
In a non-deterministic finite automata (NFA), there are different paths, or choices you can make, so there can be more than one, or no transition defined for a given state.