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TheoremStatement: Literature-sourcedProof: AI-generatedprecheck passjudge pass (gpt-5.6-terra)audited 2026-09-12
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Context-free languages are not closed under intersection

Statement

Context-free languages are not closed under intersection.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: The languages L1={anbncm:n,m≥0},L2={ambncn:m,n≥0}.

[L1]

By The language generated by a CFG, a language is context-free exactly when some context-free grammar generates it.

[L2]

By The pumping lemma for context-free languages, every context-free language satisfies the CFL pumping property.

Proof

technique · direct
1.1L1givenconstruct

The grammar S1→AB, A→aAb∣ε, B→cB∣ε generates L1, and the grammar S2→CD, C→aC∣ε, D→bDc∣ε generates L2. Therefore both languages are context-free by [L1].

2.1step 1.1

A word belongs to L1∩L2 exactly when its number of a's equals its number of b's and its number of b's equals its number of c's. Hence L1∩L2={anbncn:n≥0}.

3.1L2step 2.1

Suppose L1∩L2 were context-free. Let p be the pumping length from [L2], and consider the word apbpcp. Any factor vwx with ∣vwx∣≤p lies within one block or crosses only one of the two block boundaries. Pumping v and x therefore changes at most two of the three symbol counts, so for i=0 or i=2 the word uviwxiy cannot still have equal numbers of a's, b's, and c's. This contradicts [L2].

4.1step 1.1step 3.1∎

Thus L1∩L2 is not context-free even though each of L1 and L2 is. So context-free languages are not closed under intersection.

Depends on

Used by

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Sources