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Turing Machines and Undecidability

GATE CSE 2022 · Q23

MSQ1 markMedium

Time

Which of the following statements is/are TRUE?

Select all that applyOne or more correct

Pick every correct option

Solution

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Official answer: B) If a language L and its complement L are both recursively enumerable, then L must be recursive.; C) Complement of a context-free language must be recursive.; D) If L1 and L2 are regular, then L1 ∩ L2 must be deterministic context-free.

Turing Machines and Undecidability

Let us analyze each statement:

  • (A) False: Every language is a subset of Σ∗\Sigma^*, and Σ∗\Sigma^* is regular (and hence recursively enumerable). Since there are uncountably many subsets of Σ∗\Sigma^* but only countably many Turing machines (and thus countably many recursive/RE languages), not every subset of an RE language is recursive (in fact, some are not even RE).

  • (B) True: By Post's Theorem, a language LL is recursive (decidable) if and only if both LL and its complement L‾\overline{L} are recursively enumerable (Turing-recognizable).

  • (C) True: Every context-free language (CFL) is recursive. Because the class of recursive languages is closed under complementation, the complement of any CFL is always recursive (even though it may not be context-free).

  • (D) True: Regular languages are closed under intersection, so if L1L_1 and L2L_2 are regular, L1∩L2L_1 \cap L_2 is regular. Since every regular language is a deterministic context-free language (DCFL), L1∩L2L_1 \cap L_2 is deterministic context-free.

Thus, statements B, C, and D are TRUE.

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This Turing Machines and Undecidability previous year question is Q23 of the GATE CSE 2022 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. 3 of them are 1-mark MSQs like this one, and GATE CSE 2022 has 2.

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GateAI solution cardGATE CSE 2022 · Q23 · MSQ

Which of the following statements is/are TRUE?

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