Lecture-2 Recap Lecture-1

 Introduction to the course title, Formal and

In-formal languages, Alphabets, Strings,
Null string, Words, Valid and In-valid
alphabets, length of a string, Reverse of a
string, Defining languages, Descriptive
definition of languages, EQUAL, EVEN-
EVEN, INTEGER, EVEN, { an bn}, { an bn an },
factorial, FACTORIAL, DOUBLEFACTORIAL,
SQUARE, DOUBLESQUARE, PRIME,
PALINDROME.
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 Task

 Q) Prove that there are as many

palindromes of length 2n, defined over
Σ = {a,b,c}, as there are of length 2n-
1, n = 1,2,3… . Determine the number
of palindromes of length 2n defined
over the same alphabet as well.

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 Solution

To calculate the number of

palindromes of length(2n),
consider the following diagram,

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 which shows that there are as many
palindromes of length 2n as there are the
strings of length n i.e. the required
number of palindromes are 3n (as there
are three letters in the given alphabet, so
the number of strings of length n will be 3n
).

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To calculate the number of
palindromes of length (2n-1) with a
as the middle letter, consider the
following diagram,

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which shows that there are as many
palindromes of length 2n-1, with a as middle
letter, as there are the strings of length n-1,
i.e. the required number of palindromes are
3n-1.
Similarly the number of palindromes of
length 2n-1, with b or c as middle letter,
will be 3n-1 as well. Hence the total number of
palindromes of length 2n-1 will be
3n-1 + 3n-1 + 3n-1 = 3 (3n-1)= 3n .
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 Kleene Star Closure

 Given Σ, then the Kleene Star Closure

of the alphabet Σ, denoted by Σ*, is the
collection of all strings defined over Σ,
including Λ.
 It is to be noted that Kleene Star
Closure can be defined over any set of
strings.

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 Examples

 If Σ = {x}
Then Σ* = {Λ, x, xx, xxx, xxxx, ….}
 If Σ = {0,1}
Then Σ* = {Λ, 0, 1, 00, 01, 10, 11, ….}
 If Σ = {aaB, c} d
Then Σ* = {Λ, aaB, c, aaBaaB, aaBc,
caaB, cc, ….}

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 Note

 Languages generated by Kleene Star

Closure of set of strings, are infinite
languages. (By infinite language, it is
supposed that the language contains
infinite many words, each of finite
length).

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 Task
 Q)
1) Let S={ab, bb} and T={ab, bb, bbbb}
Show that S* = T* [Hint S*  T* and T*  S*]
2) Let S={ab, bb} and T={ab, bb, bbb}
Show that S* ≠ T* But S*  T*
3) Let S={a, bb, bab, abaab} be a set of
strings. Are abbabaabab and
baabbbabbaabb in S*? Does any word
in S* have odd number of b’s?

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 PLUS Operation (+)

 Plus Operation is same as Kleene Star

Closure except that it does not generate Λ
(null string), automatically.
Example:
 If Σ = {0,1}
Then Σ+ = {0, 1, 00, 01, 10, 11, ….}
 If Σ = {aab, c}
Then Σ+ = {aab, c, aabaab, aabc, caab, cc,
….}
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 TASK

Q1)Is there any case when S+ contains Λ?

If yes then justify your answer.

Q2) Prove that for any set of strings S

i. (S+)*=(S*)*
ii. (S+)+=S+
iii. Is (S*)+=(S+)*

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 Remark

 It is to be noted that Kleene Star can also

be operated on any string i.e. a* can be
considered to be all possible strings defined
over {a}, which shows that a* generates
Λ, a, aa, aaa, …
It may also be noted that a+ can be
considered to be all possible non empty
strings defined over {a}, which shows that
a+ generates
a, aa, aaa, aaaa, …
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 Defining Languages Continued…

 Recursive definition of languages

The following three steps are used in
recursive definition
1. Some basic words are specified in the
language.
2. Rules for constructing more words are
defined in the language.
3. No strings except those constructed in
above, are allowed to be in the language.

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 Example

 Defining language of INTEGER

Step 1:
1 is in INTEGER.
Step 2:
If x is in INTEGER then x+1 and x-1 are also
in INTEGER.
Step 3:
No strings except those constructed in
above, are allowed to be in INTEGER.

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 Example

 Defining language of EVEN

Step 1:
2 is in EVEN.
Step 2:
If x is in EVEN then x+2 and x-2 are also
in EVEN.
Step 3:
No strings except those constructed in
above, are allowed to be in EVEN.

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 Example

 Defining the language factorial

Step 1:
As 0!=1, so 1 is in factorial.
Step 2:
n!=n*(n-1)! is in factorial.
Step 3:
No strings except those constructed
in above, are allowed to be in factorial.

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 Defining the language PALINDROME,
defined over Σ = {a,b}
Step 1:
a and b are in PALINDROME
Step 2:
if x is palindrome, then s(x)Rev(s) and xx will
also be palindrome, where s belongs to Σ*
Step 3:
No strings except those constructed in
above, are allowed to be in palindrome

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 Defining the language {anbn }, n=1,2,3,
… , of strings defined over Σ={a,b}
Step 1:
ab is in {anbn}
Step 2:
if x is in {anbn}, then axb is in {anbn}
Step 3:
No strings except those constructed in
above, are allowed to be in {anbn}

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 Defining the language L, of strings
ending in a , defined over Σ={a,b}
Step 1:
a is in L
Step 2:
if x is in L then s(x) is also in L, where s
belongs to Σ*
Step 3:
No strings except those constructed in
above, are allowed to be in L
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 Defining the language L, of strings
beginning and ending in same letters ,
defined over Σ={a, b}
Step 1:
a and b are in L
Step 2:
(a)s(a) and (b)s(b) are also in L, where s
belongs to Σ*
Step 3:
No strings except those constructed in
above, are allowed to be in L
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 Defining the language L, of strings
containing aa or bb , defined over
Σ={a, b}
Step 1:
aa and bb are in L
Step 2:
s(aa)s and s(bb)s are also in L, where s belongs
to Σ*
Step 3:
No strings except those constructed in
above, are allowed to be in L
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 Defining the language L, of strings
containing exactly aa, defined over
Σ={a, b}
Step 1:
aa is in L
Step 2:
s(aa)s is also in L, where s belongs to b*
Step 3:
No strings except those constructed in
above, are allowed to be in L
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 Task
 Q)
1) Let S={ab, bb} and T={ab, bb, bbbb} Show
that S* = T* [Hint S*  T* and T*  S*]
2) Let S={ab, bb} and T={ab, bb, bbb} Show
that S* ≠ T* But S*  T*
Solution: Since S  T , so every string
belonging to S* , also belongs to T* but bbb is
a string belongs to T* but does not belong to
S *.

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 3) Let S={a, bb, bab, abaab} be a set of strings.
Are abbabaabab and baabbbabbaabb in S *? Does
any word in S* have odd number of b’s?
Solution: since abbabaabab can be grouped as
(a)(bb)(abaab)ab , which shows that the last
member of the group does not belong to S, so
abbabaabab is not in S*, while baabbbabbaabb
can not be grouped as members of S, hence
baabbbabbaabb is not in S*. Since each string in S
has even number of b’s so there is no possiblity
of any string with odd number of b’s to be in S*.

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 Task

Q1)Is there any case when S+ contains Λ?

If yes then justify your answer.
Solution: consider S={Λ,a} then
S+ ={Λ, a, aa, aaa, …}
Here Λ is in S+ as member of S. Thus
Λ will be in S+ , in this case.

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Q2) Prove that for any set of strings S

i. (S+)*=(S*)*
Solution: In general Λ is not in S+ , while
Λ does belong to S*. Obviously Λ will
now be in (S+)*, while (S*)* and S*
generate the same set of strings.
Hence (S+)*=(S*)*.

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 Q2) continued…

ii) (S+)+=S+
Solution: since S+ generates all possible
strings that can be obtained by
concatenating the strings of S, so (S+)+
generates all possible strings that can
be obtained by concatenating the
strings of S+ , will not generate any
new string.
Hence (S+)+=S+
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 Q2) continued…

iii) Is (S*)+=(S+)*
Solution: since Λ belongs to S* ,so Λ
will belong to (S*)+ as member of
S* .Moreover Λ may not belong to S+,
in general, while Λ will automatically
belong to (S+)*.
Hence (S*)+=(S+)*

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 Summing Up

 Kleene Star Closure, Plus operation,

recursive definition of languages,
INTEGER, EVEN, factorial, PALINDROME,
{anbn}, languages of strings (i) ending in
a, (ii) beginning and ending in same
letters, (iii) containing aa or bb
(iv)containing exactly aa,

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