The Pumping Lemma

for
Context-Free Languages

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Take an infinite context-free language

Generates an infinite number

of different strings

Example: S  AB
A  aBb
B  Sb
Bb
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 S  AB
A  aBb
B  Sb
Bb In a derivation of a long string,
variables are repeated

A derivation:
S  AB  aBbB  abbB
 abbSb  abbABb  abbaBbBb 
 abbabbBb  abbabbbb
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Derivation tree string abbabbbb
S

A B

a B b S b

b A B

a B b b

b
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Derivation tree string abbabbbb
S

A B

a B b S b

b A B

a B b b

repeated b
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B  Sb  ABb  B

 aBbBb  aBbbb S b

A B

a B b b

b
*
B  aBbbb Bb
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Repeated Part B

S b

A B

a B b b

*
B  aBbbb
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 B
Another possible
derivation from B S b

* A B

B  aBbbb a B b b

S b

A B

a B b b

* *
B  aBbbb  aaBbbbbbb
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 B

S b

* A B

B  aBbbb a B b b

S b

A B

a B b b

* *
2 2
B (a ) B (bbb) (a ) B (bbb)
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A Derivation from S
S
*
S  abbB A B

a B b
*
B  aBbbb b

Bb

*
S  abbBb
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 S
*
A B
S  abbB
a B b b
*
B  aBbbb b

Bb

*
0 0
S  abbB  abbb  abb(a ) b(bbb)

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 * *
S  abbB B  aBbbb Bb

*
0 0
S  abb(a ) b(bbb)

0 0
abb(a) b(bbb)  L(G )
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A Derivation from S
S
*
S  abbB A B

a B b
*
B  aBbbb b

Bb
*
S  abbB

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 S
*
S  abbB A B

* a B b S b

B  aBbbb b A B

Bb a B b b

* *
S  abbB  abbaBbbb
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 S
*
S  abbB A B

a
* B b S b

B  aBbbb b A B

a B b b
Bb S b

A B

a B b b

* *
2 2
S  abb(a ) B (bbb)  abb(a ) B (bbb)
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 S
*
S  abbB A B

a B b S b
*
B  aBbbb b A B

a B b b

Bb S b

A B

a B b b

* *
2 2 2 2
S  abb(a) B(bbb)  abb(a) b(bbb)
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 * *
S  abbB B  aBbbb Bb

*
2 2
S  abb(a ) b(bbb)

2 2
abb(a ) b(bbb)  L(G )
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A Derivation from S S

A B
*
S  abbB a B b S b

* b A B

B  aBbbb a B b b

Bb S b

A B

a B b b

*
2 2
S  abb(a ) B (bbb)
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 S
* A B
S  abbB a B b S b

* b A B
B  aBbbb a B b b

Bb S b

A B

a B b b

S b

A B

a B b b

* *
2 2 3 3
S  abb(a ) B (bbb)  abb( a ) B (bbb)
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 S
* A B
S  abbB a B b S b

* b A B

B  aBbbb a B b b

S b
Bb A B

a B b b

S b

A B

a B b b

*
3 3 3 3
S  abb(a ) B (bbb)  abb(a) b(bbb)
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 * *
S  abbB B  aBbbb Bb

*
3 3
S  abb(a) b(bbb)

3 3
abb(a) b(bbb)  L(G )
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In General:

* *
S  abbB B  aBbbb Bb

*
i i
S  abb(a ) b(bbb)

i i
abb(a ) b(bbb)  L(G ) i0
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Consider now an infinite
context-free language L

Let G be the grammar of L  {}

Take G so that it has no unit-productions

no  -productions
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Let p = (Number of productions) x
(Largest right side of a production)
 (G )

Let m  p 1
Example G : S  AB
p  4  3  12
A  aBb
B  Sb m  p  1  13
Bb
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 v1  v2    vk  w
k Number of productions
in grammar

Some production must be repeated

v1    a1 Aa2    a3 Aa4    w
S  r1
Repeated A  r2
B  r2
variable

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 w L(G ) | w | m
Derivation of string w
S    a1 Aa2    a3 Aa4    w

Some variable is repeated

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Derivation tree of string w
S

u z
Last repeated variable A

v y
w  uvxyz
repeated A
u , v, x, y , z :
Strings of terminals
x 27
 S
Possible
derivations: u z
 A
S  uAz
 v y
A  vAy A

A x
x 28
We know:
  
S  uAz A  vAy A x

This string is also generated:

 *
S  uAz  uxz

0 0
uv xy z
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We know:
  
S  uAz A  vAy A x

This string is also generated:

 * *
S  uAz  uvAyz  uvxyz

1 1
The original w  uv xy z
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We know:
  
S  uAz A  vAy A x

This string is also generated:

 * * *
S  uAz  uvAyz  uvvAyyz  uvvxyyz

2 2
uv xy z
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We know:
  
S  uAz A  vAy A x

This string is also generated:

 * *
S  uAz  uvAyz  uvvAyyz 
* *
 uvvvAyyyz  uvvvxyyyz
3 3
uv xy z
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We know:
  
S  uAz A  vAy A x
This string is also generated:
* uAz 
S * uvAyz 
* uvvAyyz *
* uvvvAyyyz 
* 
* uvvvvAy  yyyz *

* uvvvvxy  yyyz


i i
uv xy z
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Therefore, any string of the form

i i
uv xy z i0

is generated by the grammar G

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Therefore,

knowing that uvxyz  L(G )

i i
we also know that uv xy z  L(G )

L(G )  L  {}

i i
uv xy z  L
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 S

u z
A

v y
A

x
Observation: | vxy |  m
Since A is the last repeated variable 36
 S

u z
A

v y
A

x
Observation: | vy |  1
Since there are no unit or -productions 37
The Pumping Lemma:
For infinite context-free language L
there exists an integer m such that

for any string w  L, | w | m

we can write w  uvxyz
with lengths | vxy | m and | vy | 1
and it must be:
i i
uv xy z  L, for all i  0
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 Reminders
Choosing m :

• The thing to remember about the pumping length

m is that you don’t get to choose it!
• The pumping lemma itself “supplies” this value to
you. So you cannot make any assumption about
what the value of m is, you simply must use it as a
fixed value over which you have no control.

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 Reminders
Choosing w :
• A good place to start is with a string that
incorporates the pumping length m in it somehow,
e.g. ambm if your alphabet is {a, b}.
• The right string can reduce the number of
different partitions you must consider.
• As you work through more and more examples of
these types of proofs, you gather insight into the
types of strings that will work best. So the best
way to get better at choosing w is to read
examples and, even better, to work problems.

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 Reminders
Choosing the partition of w :
• The thing to remember about the partition of w
into its parts u, v, x, y & z is, again, that
you don’t get to choose it!
• The partition is, in some sense, chosen for you.
But it is never explicitly given to you (the way you
can think of the pumping length as being given to
you), so you must consider all possible partitions.
• Remember, that for each partition of w, you must
show that for some integer i, the string uvixyiz is
not in L.

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 Reminders
Choosing i :
• You do get to choose this, and you’re given quite a
bit of freedom. You may pick i so that it is any
integer greater than 1, or even 0.
• It doesn’t make sense to select i = 1, since that
would describe w, a string which you already know
to be in L.)
• You may even choose i differently in different
cases of your proof. This is useful, for example,
if some cases work only if you “pump down” to i =
0, while others work only if you “pump up” to i = 2
or i = 3.
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 Cautions
• Be sure that the w you choose is actually in the
language L you are trying to prove something
about! If not, the pumping lemma doesn’t
guarantee anything about whether pumping that w
should give strings in L.
• Also, be sure that your string w is long enough: it
must have length at least m.
• In the pumping lemma for context-free
languages, when you pump a particular string, note
that the i describing the number of repetitions of
v must be the same i describing the number of
repetitions of y.
So it doesn’t help your proof to show a “pumped”
string uv0xy2z which is not in L, since 0 ≠ 2.

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