Non-regular languages

(Pumping Lemma)

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 1

 n n
{a b : n  0}
Non-regular languages
R
{vv : v {a, b}*}

Regular languages
a *b b*c  a
b  c ( a  b) *
etc...
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 2
 How can we prove that a language L
is not regular?

Prove that there is no DFA or NFA or RE

that accepts L

Difficulty: this is not easy to prove

(since there is an infinite number of them)

Solution: use the Pumping Lemma !!!

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 3
 The Pigeonhole Principle

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 4

 4 pigeons

3 pigeonholes

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 A pigeonhole must
contain at least two pigeons

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 n pigeons

...........

m pigeonholes nm

...........

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 7

 The Pigeonhole Principle

n pigeons
m pigeonholes
There is a pigeonhole
nm with at least 2 pigeons

...........

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 8

 The Pigeonhole Principle

and

DFAs

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 9

 Consider a DFA with 4 states

b
b b

a a b
q1 q2 q3 q4
a a
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 10
Consider the walk of a “long’’ string: aaaab
(length at least 4)

A state is repeated in the walk of aaaab

q1 a q2 a q3 a q2 a q3 b q4

b
b b

a a b
q1 q2 q3 q4
a a
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 11
 The state is repeated as a result of
the pigeonhole principle

Walk of aaaab
Pigeons: q1 a q2 a q3 a q2 a q3 b q4
(walk states)

Are more than

Nests: q1 q2 q3 q4
(Automaton states) Repeated
state
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 12
Consider the walk of a “long’’ string: aabb
(length at least 4)

Due to the pigeonhole principle:

A state is repeated in the walk of aabb
q1 a q2 a q3 b q4 b q4

b
b b

a a b
q1 q2 q3 q4

Fall 2005
a
Costas Busch - RPI
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 The state is repeated as a result of
the pigeonhole principle

Walk of aabb
Pigeons: q1 a q2 a q3 b q4 b q4
(walk states)

Are more than

Nests: q1 q2 q3 q4
(Automaton states) Repeated
Automaton States
state
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 14
In General: If | w |  # states of DFA ,
by the pigeonhole principle,
a state is repeated in the walk w

Walk of w  1 2  k
q1 1  2 ....  i q  i 1 .... j
qi
 j 1
.... k
qz
i

Arbitrary DFA
q1 1 2
...... ...... k
qi qz
Repeated state
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 15
 | w |  # states of DFA  m

Pigeons: (walk states)

Walk of w
q1 .... qi .... qi .... qz

Are
more
than

Nests: q1 q2 .... qi .... qm1 qm

(Automaton states) A state is
repeated
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 16
 The Pumping Lemma

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 17

 Take an infinite regular language L
(contains an infinite number of strings)

There exists a DFA that accepts L

m
states

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 18

Take string w L with | w |  m
(number of
states of DFA)

then, at least one state is repeated

in the walk of w

Walk in DFA of
w  1 2  k
1  2 ...... q ......  k
Repeated state in DFA
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 19
 There could be many states repeated

Take q to be the first state repeated

One dimensional projection of walk w:

First Second
occurrence occurrence
1  2 ....  i q i 1 .... j
q ....  k
 j 1

Unique states

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 20

 We can write w  xyz

One dimensional projection of walk w:

First Second
occurrence occurrence
1  2 ....  i q i 1 .... j
q
 j 1
....  k

x  1 i y   i 1 j z   j 1 k

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 21

 In DFA: w x y z

y
...

j  i 1
1
... i
q  j 1
... ... k

x z
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 22
Observation: length | x y |  m number
of states
of DFA

y
...
Unique States
j  i 1
1
... i
q Since, in xy no
state is repeated
Fall 2005
x Costas Busch - RPI
(except q) 23
Observation: length | y | 1
Since there is at least one transition in loop

y
...

j  i 1

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 24

 We do not care about the form of string z

z may actually overlap with the paths of x and y

y
...

z
... q

Fall 2005
x Costas Busch - RPI 25
 Additional string: The string xz
is accepted

Do not follow loop

y
...

j  i 1
1
... i
q  j 1
... ... k

x z
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 26
 Additional string: The string xyyz
is accepted

Follow loop y
2 times
...

j  i 1
1
... i
q  j 1
... ... k

x z
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 27
 Additional string: The string xyyyz
is accepted

Follow loop y
3 times
...

j  i 1
1
... i
q  j 1
... ... k

x z
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 28
 i
In General: The string xy z
is accepted i  0, 1, 2, ...

Follow loop y
i times
...

j  i 1
1
... i
q  j 1
... ... k

x z
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 29
 Therefore: x y z L
i
i  0, 1, 2, ...

Language accepted by the DFA

y
...

j  i 1
1
... i
q  j 1
... ... k

x z
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 30
 In other words, we described:

The Pumping Lemma !!!

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 31

 The Pumping Lemma:
• Given a infinite regular language L
• there exists an integer m

• for any string w L with length | w |  m

• we can write w x y z

• with | x y |  m and | y |  1
i i  0, 1, 2, ...
• such that: xy z  L
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 32
 Applications

of

the Pumping Lemma

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 33

Observation:
Every language of finite size has to be regular
(we can easily construct an NFA
that accepts every string in the language)

Therefore, every non-regular language

has to be of infinite size
(contains an infinite number of strings)

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 34

Suppose you want to prove that
An infinite language L is not regular

1. Assume the opposite: L is regular

2. The pumping lemma should hold for L

3. Use the pumping lemma to obtain a
contradiction

4. Therefore, L is not regular

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 35

Explanation of Step 3: How to get a contradiction
with pumping lemma

i. Find a particular string w L

which satisfies
the conditions of the pumping lemma

ii. Write w  xyz

iii. Show that w  xy z  L

i
for some i 1
iv. This gives a contradiction, since from
pumping lemma w  xy z  L i

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 36

 Note: It suffices to show that
only one string w L
gives a contradiction

You don’t need to obtain

contradiction for every w  L

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 37

 Example of Pumping Lemma application

Theorem: The language L  {a nb n : n  0}

is not regular

Proof: Use the Pumping Lemma

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 38

 n n
L  {a b : n  0}

Assume for contradiction

that L is a regular language

Since L is infinite
we can apply the Pumping Lemma

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 39

 n n
L  {a b : n  0}

Let m be the integer in the Pumping Lemma

Pick a string w such that: w  L

length | w| m

m m
We pick wa b
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 40
 m m
Write: a b xyz

From the Pumping Lemma

it must be that length | x y |  m, | y | 1
m m
m m
xyz  a b  a...aa...aa...ab...b
x y z
k
Thus: y  a , k 1
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 41
 m m k
x y za b y  a , k 1

i
From the Pumping Lemma: xy z  L
i  0, 1, 2, ...

2
Thus: xy z  L

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 42

 m m k
x y za b y  a , k 1

2
From the Pumping Lemma: xy z  L

mk m
2
xy z  a...aa...aa...aa...ab...b  L
x y y z

m k m
Thus: a b L
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 43
 m k m k≥ 1
a b L

n n
BUT: L  {a b : n  0}

m k m
a b L

CONTRADICTION!!!
Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 44
Therefore: Our assumption that L
is a regular language is not true

Conclusion: L is not a regular language

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 45

 n n
Non-regular language {a b : n  0}

Regular languages

* *
L(a b )

Fall 2005 Costas Busch - RPI 46