Difference between Turing machine and Universal Turing machine
Turing Machine was first described by Alan Turing in the year 1936. It was primarily invented to investigate the computability of a given problem. It accepts type-0 grammar which is Recursively Enumerable language. The Turing machine has a tape of infinite length where we can perform read and write operations. The infinite cells of the Turing machine can contain input symbols and blanks. It has a head pointer that can move in any direction, it points to the cell where the input is being read.
Universal Turing Machine simulates a Turing Machine. Universal Turing Machine can be considered as a subset of all the Turing machines, it can match or surpass other Turing machines including itself. Universal Turing Machine is like a single Turing Machine that has a solution to all problems that is computable. It contains a Turing Machine description as input along with an input string, runs the Turing Machine on the input and returns a result.

The difference between Turing Machine and Universal Turing Machine are as follows:
Turing Machine |
Universal Turing Machine |
|
1. | It is a mathematical model of computation it manipulates symbols on the tape according to the rules defined | Universal Turing Machine is like a single Turing Machine that has a solution to all problem that is computable |
2. | A program can be compared to a Turing Machine | Programmable Turing Machine is called Universal Turing Machine |
3. | Turing machine’s temporary storage is tape. The infinite cells of the Turing machine can contain input symbols and blanks. | Universal Turing Machine contains Turing Machine description as input along with an input string, runs the Turing Machine on the input and returns the result. |
4. | Turing machines help us understand the fundamental limitations of mechanical computation power | Although developed for theoretical reasons, it helped in the development of stored program computers |
5. | A Turing machine is a formal model of a computer with a fixed program | Universal Turing Machine provides a solution to problems that are computable |
6. | It does not minimize the space complexity | It minimizes space complexity |
7, | Transition function which Turing Machine performs is defined as: δ X T -> Q X T X {L,R}, where δ is the transition function | The transition function is Q × T → Q × T × {L, R}, where Q is a finite set of states, T is the tape of the alphabet |
8. | In the set theory point of view, all Turing machines form a set of the all the device that accepts type 0 grammar | Universal Turing Machine is a subset of all the Turing Machines |
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