A1: Question 2.1

I'm not sure what is meant when we're asked to build an FSA and recurrence relation "[...] using the above sequences, [...]". Isn't an FSA (and the recursion tables) generic in the sense that it looks more like figure 2.9 in BSA, potentially with 'e' and 'd' substituted with the given actual penalty scores for this case? Where does the sequences A and B fit into the FSA diagram (I assume we're not talking about something like figure 2.10 in BSA in this particular subquestion)?

You can draw something like in figure 2.9 except with the particular labels for the transitions filled in as per the assignment description. You're right in that the particular sequences shown here don't really fit into this particular subquestion a). Does this help?