What is a "distinguished subset"?

Question

I don't know if this is another word for something I already know or if it is something altogether different. I'm reading my textbook in CS about distributed algorithms, and this came up.

I googled for a definition but couldn't find one.

The state set $Q$ contains a distinguished subset of initial states.

Maybe it would be more appropriate for StackOverflow or the like. — Julien, May 22 '13 at 02:53
It looked like a math term, so I figured I'd try here first. We'll see what others say. — Mirrana, May 22 '13 at 02:54
After all, there is a computer science tag here, so why not. — Julien, May 22 '13 at 03:06

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered May 22 '13 at 02:55

3

A distinguished subset is one that is chosen out of all the subsets. In this case, some of the states are chosen to be "initial states".

answered May 22 '13 at 02:55

vadim123

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score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 22 '13 at 02:55

2

It just means a particular subset that we're going to pay special attention to. It does not mean that the subset has any special properties.

answered May 22 '13 at 02:55

MJD

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What is a "distinguished subset"?

2 Answers2