Prove or disprove if L is CFL?

Question

Given $L=\{a^ib^jc^k | i\neq j \space and \space j=k\}$. Is this CFL? How do I write CFG for it or prove it with pumping lemma? Thanks.

Answer 1

Suppose that $L$ were context-free. According to Ogden's lemma, there is a constant $p$ such that each word in $L$ with at least $p$ marked positions satisfies the constraints of the lemma. Consider the word $s = \underline{a^p}b^{p+p!}c^{p+p!}$, in which the underlined part is marked. According to Ogden's lemma, there is a decomposition $s = uvwxy$ in which $vx$ contains at least one $a$, and $uv^iwx^iy \in L$ for all $i \geq 0$. We now consider several cases:

1. $x$ contains $b$s but not $c$s, or $c$s but not $b$s. Choosing $i = 0$, we obtain a word in which the number of $b$s differs from the number of $c$s, and so does not belong to $L$.

2. $x$ contains both $b$s and $c$s. Choosing $i = 2$, we obtain a word not belonging to $a^*b^*c^*$, and so not belonging to $L$.

3. $x$ contains no $b$s nor $c$s, and $v \notin a^*$. In this case $x = \epsilon$, and so $v$ must contain at least two different characters. Choosing $i = 2$, we again obtain a word not belonging to $a^*b^*c^*$, and so not belonging to $L$.

4. $vx \in a^+$, say $vx = a^q$. Let $i = p!/q+1$. Then $uv^iwx^iy = a^{p+p!}b^{p+p!}c^{p+p!} \notin L$.

We have obtained a contradiction, and so $L$ is not context-free.