Simplifications

of
Context-Free Grammars

1
 A Substitution Rule

Equivalent
grammar
S  aB
S  aB | ab
A  aaA
Substitute A  aaA
A  abBc Bb A  abBc | abbc
B  aA
B  aA
Bb
2
 A Substitution Rule
S  aB | ab
A  aaA
A  abBc | abbc
B  aA
Substitute
B  aA
S  aB | ab | aaA
A  aaA Equivalent
A  abBc | abbc | abaAc grammar
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In general:
A  xBz

B  y1

Substitute
B  y1

equivalent
A  xBz | xy1z grammar
4
 Nullable Variables

  production : A

Nullable Variable: A 

5
 Removing Nullable Variables

Example Grammar:

S  aMb
M  aMb
M 

Nullable variable

6
 Final Grammar

S  aMb
S  aMb
Substitute S  ab
M  aMb M 
M  aMb
M 
M  ab

7
 Unit-Productions

Unit Production: A B

(a single variable in both sides)

8
 Removing Unit Productions

Observation:

A A

Is removed immediately

9
Example Grammar:

S  aA
Aa
A B
BA
B  bb

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S  aA
S  aA | aB
Aa
Substitute Aa
A B A B B  A| B
BA
B  bb
B  bb

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S  aA | aB S  aA | aB
Aa Remove Aa
B  A| B BB BA
B  bb B  bb

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S  aA | aB
S  aA | aB | aA
Aa Substitute
BA Aa
BA
B  bb
B  bb

13
Remove repeated productions

Final grammar
S  aA | aB | aA S  aA | aB
Aa Aa
B  bb B  bb

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 Useless Productions

S  aSb
S 
SA
A  aA Useless Production

Some derivations never terminate...

S  A  aA  aaA    aa aA  
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Another grammar:

SA
A  aA
A
B  bA Useless Production
Not reachable from S

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In general: contains only
terminals
if S    xAy    w

w L(G )

then variable A is useful

otherwise, variable A is useless

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A production A  x is useless
if any of its variables is useless

S  aSb
S  Productions
Variables SA useless
useless A  aA useless
useless B  C useless

useless CD useless

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 Removing Useless Productions

Example Grammar:

S  aS | A | C
Aa
B  aa
C  aCb

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 First: find all variables that can produce
strings with only terminals

S  aS | A | C Round 1: { A, B}
Aa SA
B  aa
C  aCb Round 2: { A, B, S }

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 Keep only the variables
that produce terminal symbols: { A, B, S }
(the rest variables are useless)

S  aS | A | C
Aa S  aS | A
B  aa Aa
C  aCb B  aa
Remove useless productions
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Second: Find all variables
reachable from S

Use a Dependency Graph

S  aS | A
Aa S A B
B  aa not
reachable

22
 Keep only the variables
reachable from S
(the rest variables are useless)

Final Grammar
S  aS | A
S  aS | A
Aa
Aa
B  aa

Remove useless productions

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 Removing All

Step 1: Remove Nullable Variables

Step 2: Remove Unit-Productions

Step 3: Remove Useless Variables

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 Normal Forms
for
Context-free Grammars

25
 Chomsky Normal Form

Each productions has form:

A  BC or Aa

variable variable terminal

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Examples:

S  AS S  AS
S a S  AAS
A  SA A  SA
Ab A  aa
Chomsky Not Chomsky
Normal Form Normal Form

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 Convertion to Chomsky Normal Form

Example: S  ABa
A  aab
B  Ac

Not Chomsky
Normal Form

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Introduce variables for terminals: Ta , Tb , Tc

S  ABTa
S  ABa A  TaTaTb
A  aab B  ATc
B  Ac Ta  a
Tb  b
Tc  c
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Introduce intermediate variable: V1

S  AV1
S  ABTa
V1  BTa
A  TaTaTb
A  TaTaTb
B  ATc
B  ATc
Ta  a
Ta  a
Tb  b
Tb  b
Tc  c
Tc  c
30
Introduce intermediate variable: V2
S  AV1
S  AV1
V1  BTa
V1  BTa
A  TaV2
A  TaTaTb
V2  TaTb
B  ATc
B  ATc
Ta  a
Ta  a
Tb  b
Tb  b
Tc  c
Tc  c 31
 Final grammar in Chomsky Normal Form:
S  AV1
V1  BTa
A  TaV2
Initial grammar
V2  TaTb
S  ABa B  ATc
A  aab Ta  a
B  Ac Tb  b
Tc  c 32
In general:

From any context-free grammar

(which doesn’t produce  )
not in Chomsky Normal Form

we can obtain:
An equivalent grammar
in Chomsky Normal Form

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 The Procedure

First remove:

Nullable variables

Unit productions

34
Then, for every symbol a:

Add production Ta  a

In productions: replace a with Ta

New variable: Ta
35
Replace any production A  C1C2 Cn

with A  C1V1
V1  C2V2

Vn2  Cn1Cn

New intermediate variables: V1, V2 ,  ,Vn2

36
Theorem: For any context-free grammar
(which doesn’t produce  )
there is an equivalent grammar
in Chomsky Normal Form

37
 Observations

• Chomsky normal forms are good

for parsing and proving theorems

• It is very easy to find the Chomsky normal

form for any context-free grammar

38
 Greinbach Normal Form

All productions have form:

A  a V1V2 Vk k 0

symbol variables

39
Examples:

S  cAB
S  abSb
A  aA | bB | b
S  aa
Bb

Greinbach Not Greinbach

Normal Form Normal Form

40
Conversion to Greinbach Normal Form:

S  aTb STb
S  abSb S  aTa
S  aa Ta  a
Tb  b
Greinbach
Normal Form
41
Theorem: For any context-free grammar
(which doesn’t produce )
there is an equivalent grammar
in Greinbach Normal Form

42
 Observations

• Greinbach normal forms are very good

for parsing

• It is hard to find the Greinbach normal

form of any context-free grammar

43
The CYK Parser

44
 The CYK Membership Algorithm

Input:

• Grammar G in Chomsky Normal Form

• String w

Output:

find if w L(G )
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 The Algorithm
Input example:
• Grammar G : S  AB
A  BB
Aa
B  AB
Bb

• String w : aabbb
46
aabbb
a a b b b

aa ab bb bb

aab abb bbb

aabb abbb

aabbb

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S  AB
A  BB
a a b b b
Aa A A B B B
B  AB
aa ab bb bb
Bb
aab abb bbb

aabb abbb

aabbb
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S  AB
A  BB
a a b b b
Aa A A B B B
B  AB
aa ab bb bb
Bb S,B A A
aab abb bbb

aabb abbb

aabbb
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S  AB
a a b b b
A  BB
A A B B B
Aa
aa ab bb bb
B  AB
S,B A A
Bb aab abb bbb
S,B A S,B
aabb abbb
A S,B
aabbb
S,B
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Therefore: aabbb  L(G )

3
Time Complexity: | w|

Observation: The CYK algorithm can be

easily converted to a parser
(bottom up parser)
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