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Explain why the following grammar is ambiguous and construct an

unambiguous grammar that generates the same language.
S →0A|1B A →0AA|1S|1 B →1BB|0S|0

User Erikbstack
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1 Answer

6 votes

Final answer:

The provided grammar is ambiguous since a string like '00' can be derived in multiple ways. A refactored unambiguous grammar provides unique derivation paths for each string, preserving the language generation while eliminating ambiguity.

Step-by-step explanation:

The grammar provided is ambiguous because there can be more than one leftmost derivation for a certain string. For example, using the given grammar rules, the string 00 can be derived in two different ways. It can be derived from S → 0A → 00AA → 00 and it can also be derived from S → 0A → 00A → 00, which makes the grammar ambiguous as there isn't a unique way to derive the string. An example of an unambiguous grammar that generates the same language would be to refactor the production rules to ensure a unique parsing tree for each string.

Example of Unambiguous Grammar:

  • S → 0X | 1Y
  • X → 0XX | 1Z
  • Z → 0X | 1S
  • Y → 1YY | 0Z

This refactoring maintains the language generation capability while ensuring that each string derived has a unique derivation path. Notice that we introduce new nonterminals X, Y, and Z to disambiguate choices between appending strings created by A and B. The choice point is now at X and Y, and Z ensures that the correct sequence is followed when a substring of the original A or B starts with a different numeric prefix.

User Evgenyl
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