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Turing Machines and Undecidability

GATE CSE 2015 Set 1 · Q3

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For any two languages L1L_1 and L2L_2 such that L1L_1 is context-free and L2L_2 is recursively enumerable but not recursive, which of the following is/are necessarily true? I. Lˉ1\bar{L}_1 (complement of L1L_1) is recursive II. Lˉ2\bar{L}_2 (complement of L2L_2) is recursive III. Lˉ1\bar{L}_1 is context-free IV. Lˉ1∪L2\bar{L}_1 \cup L_2 is recursively enumerable

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Solution

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Official answer: D) I and IV only

Turing Machines and Undecidability

Let us analyze each statement based on language closure properties and the Chomsky hierarchy:

  1. Statement I is TRUE: Every context-free language L1L_1 is a recursive (decidable) language. Since recursive languages are closed under complementation, Lˉ1\bar{L}_1 is also recursive.

  2. Statement II is FALSE: L2L_2 is recursively enumerable (RE) but not recursive. If Lˉ2\bar{L}_2 were recursive, it would also be RE. By Post's theorem, if both a language and its complement are RE, then the language must be recursive, which contradicts the fact that L2L_2 is not recursive.

  3. Statement III is FALSE: Context-free languages are not closed under complementation. Thus, Lˉ1\bar{L}_1 is not necessarily context-free.

  4. Statement IV is TRUE: Since Lˉ1\bar{L}_1 is recursive, it is also recursively enumerable (RE). The class of RE languages is closed under union. Therefore, the union of two RE languages, Lˉ1∪L2\bar{L}_1 \cup L_2, is necessarily recursively enumerable.

Hence, statements I and IV only are necessarily true, which corresponds to option (D).

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This Turing Machines and Undecidability previous year question is Q3 of the GATE CSE 2015 Set 1 paper. Find more GATE CSE PYQs on Turing Machines and Undecidability in Theory of Computation, or browse all GATE CSE PYQs.

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Turing Machines and Undecidability in GATE CSE

Turing Machines and Undecidability has 30 GATE CSE PYQs across 20 papers from 2012 to 2026. 13 of them are 1-mark MCQs like this one, and it is the only one in GATE CSE 2015 Set 1.

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GateAI solution cardGATE CSE 2015 Set 1 · Q3 · MCQ

For any two languages L1 and L2 such that L1 is context-free and L2 is recursively enumerable but not recursive, which of the following is/are necessarily true? I. L1 (complement of L1) is recursive II. L2 (complement of L2) is recursive III. L1 is context-free IV. L1 ∪ L2 is recursively enumerable

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