The alphabet is the (finite) set of symbols that a particular Turing machine
reads from or writes to its tape.

A state is one of the stable states or nodes of the finite state machine that
drives a Turing machine.

For any TM with an alphabet of A symbols and S states,
  it is possible to construct another with only 2 states and 4*A*S + S symbols
  or fewer that computes exactly the same thing.

For any TM with an alphabet of A symbols and S states,
  it is also possible to construct another with only 2 symbols and fewer than
  8*A*S states that computes exactly the same thing.

Both determined by Claude Shannon in 1954.