Alphabeta Math
TheoremStatement: Literature-sourcedProof: AI-generatedprecheck passaudited 2026-09-12
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The pumping lemma for context-free languages

Statement

If L is a context-free language, then there exists an integer p≥1 such that every word z∈L with ∣z∣≥p can be written as z=uvwxy with ∣vx∣≥1,∣vwx∣≤p,uviwxiy∈L for every i≥0.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: A context-free language L.

[L1]

By The language generated by a CFG, there exists a context-free grammar G with L=L(G).

[L2]

By Every context-free language has an equivalent grammar in Chomsky normal form, G has an equivalent grammar in Chomsky normal form.

[L3]

By Derivations and parse trees correspond, every word of the language of a CFG is the yield of some parse tree for that grammar.

[L4]

By A Chomsky-normal-form parse tree of height h has yield length at most 2h−1, a CNF parse tree of height h has yield length at most 2h−1.

Proof

technique · direct
1.1L1L2L3L4givenchoose

Choose a CNF grammar G′=(V,Σ,P,S) with L(G′)=L by [L1] and [L2], and let m:=∣V∣. Set p:=2m+1+1. Let z∈L satisfy ∣z∣≥p. By [L3], z is the yield of some parse tree T for G′. If every root-to-leaf path of T had at most m variable nodes, then T would have height at most m+1, so [L4] would give ∣z∣≤2m<p, contradicting ∣z∣≥p. Therefore some root-to-leaf path has at least m+1 variable occurrences.

2.1L4step 1.1choose

Choose two equal variables A on the last m+1 variable occurrences of such a path, with the upper one above the lower one. Let the yield of the upper A-subtree be vwx and the yield of the lower A-subtree be w, so the whole word is uvwxy. Because the lower occurrence lies strictly below the upper one and G′ is in CNF, the path segment from the upper A to the lower one cannot consist only of unit moves, so at least one of the side contexts v and x is nonempty. Hence ∣vx∣≥1. The upper A-subtree contains at most the last m+1 variable occurrences on the path, so its height is at most m+2; therefore [L4] gives ∣vwx∣≤2m+1<p.

3.1L3step 2.1

The parse-tree segment from the upper occurrence of A down to the lower one shows that A⇒∗vAx, and the lower subtree shows A⇒∗w. Repeating or deleting the first derivation segment any number of times while keeping the rest of the tree fixed yields derivations of uviwxiy in G′ for every i≥0. Hence every such word lies in L(G′)=L.

4.1step 2.1step 3.1∎

Therefore the integer p satisfies the required pumping property.

Depends on

Used by

Dependency tree · two levels

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Sources