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Questions tagged [closure-properties]

Questions about operations on objects of some kind that result in objects of the same kind.

Notable examples are closure properties of formal languages; for instance, the class of regular languages is closed against union, that is the union of two regular languages is again regular.

Before asking a question, make sure you are familiar with well-known closure properties.

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Are context-free languages in $a^*b^*$ closed under complement?

The context-free languages are not closed under complement, we know that. As far as I understand, context-free languages that are a subset of $a^*b^*$ for some letters $a,b$ are closed under complement(!?) Here is my argument. Each CF language $L$…
Hendrik Jan
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Proving closure under reversal of languages accepted by min-heap automata

This is a follow-up question of this one. In a previous question about exotic state machines, Alex ten Brink and Raphael addressed the computational capabilities of a peculiar kind of state machine: min-heap automata. They were able to show that the…
Patrick87
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Are the Before and After sets for context-free grammars always context-free?

Let $G$ be a context-free grammar. A string of terminals and nonterminals of $G$ is said to be a sentential form of $G$ if you can obtain it by applying productions of $G$ zero or more times to the start symbol of $S$. Let $\operatorname{SF}(G)$ be…
Alex ten Brink
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How to prove regular languages are closed under left quotient?

$L$ is a regular language over the alphabet $\Sigma = \{a,b\}$. The left quotient of $L$ regarding $w \in \Sigma^*$ is the language $$w^{-1} L := \{v \mid wv \in L\}$$ How can I prove that $w^{-1}L$ is regular?
corium
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If $L$ is a regular language then so is $\sqrt{L}=\{w:ww\in L\}$

I am interested in proving that $\sqrt{L}=\{w:ww\in L\}$ is regular if $L$ is regular but I don't seem to be getting anywhere. If possible I was hoping for a hint to get me going in the right direction. Thank you for your help. My idea for…
user99163
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Closure against right quotient with a fixed language

I'd really love your help with the following: For any fixed $L_2$ I need to decide whether there is closure under the following operators: $A_r(L)=\{x \mid \exists y \in L_2 : xy \in L\}$ $A_l(L)=\{x \mid \exists y \in L : xy \in L_2\}$. The…
Jozef
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Easy proof for context-free languages being closed under cyclic shift

The cyclic shift (also called rotation or conjugation) of a language $L$ is defined as $\{ yx \mid xy \in L \}$. According to wikipedia (and here) the context-free languages are closed under this operation, with references to papers from Oshiba and…
Hendrik Jan
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Is $A$ regular if $A^{2}$ is regular?

If $A^2$ is regular, does it follow that $A$ is regular? My attempt on a proof: Yes, for contradiction assume that $A$ is not regular. Then $A^2 = A \cdot A$. Since concatenation of two non-regular language is not regular $A^2$ cannot be regular. …
akshay
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What is complement of Context-free languages?

I need to know what class of CFL is closed under i.e. what set is complement of CFL. I know CFL is not closed under complement, and I know that P is closed under complement. Since CFL $\subsetneq$ P I can say that complement of CFL is included in…
user432
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Prove that the complement of $\{0^n1^n \mid n \geq{} 0\}$ is not regular using closure properties

I want to prove that the complement of $\{0^n1^n \mid n \geq{} 0\}$ is not regular using closure properties. I understand pumping lemma can be used to prove that $\{0^n1^n \mid n \geq{} 0\}$ is not a regular language. I also understand regular…
anthony34234
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Union of regular languages that is not regular

I've come across that question : "Give examples of two regular languages which their union doesn't output a regular language. " This is pretty shocking to me because I believe that regular languages are closed under union. Which means to me that if…
Dave
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Is an infinite union of context-free languages always context-free?

Let $L_1$, $L_2$, $L_3$, $\dots$ be an infinite sequence of context-free languages, each of which is defined over a common alphabet $Σ$. Let $L$ be the infinite union of $L_1$, $L_2$, $L_3$, $\dots $; i.e., $L = L_1 \cup L_2 \cup L_3 \cup \dots $. Is…
Gigili
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If $L$ is context-free and $R$ is regular, then $L / R$ is context-free?

I'm am stuck solving the next exercise: Argue that if $L$ is context-free and $R$ is regular, then $L / R = \{ w \mid \exists x \in R \;\text{s.t}\; wx \in L\} $ (i.e. the right quotient) is context-free. I know that there should exist a PDA that…
Dommicentl
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Operations under which the class of undecidable languages isn't closed

Do there exist undecidable languages such that their union/intersection/concatenated language is decidable? What is the physical interpretation of such example because in general, undecidable languages are not closed under these operations? What can…
user1284
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Context-free Languages closed under Reversal

In class this week we've been learning about the CFLs and their closure properties. I've seen proofs for union, intersection and compliment but for reversal my lecturer just said its closed. I wanted to see the proof so I've been searching for the…
Sam Hooper
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