Skip Navigation



Logic Journal of IGPL Advance Access published online on August 8, 2009
Logic Journal of IGPL, doi:10.1093/jigpal/jzp032
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wieczorek, W.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

An algorithm for the decomposition of finite languages*

W. Wieczorek

Institute of Computer Science, University of Silesia, Bedzinska 39, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland.
E-mail: wojciech.wieczorek{at}us.edu.pl


  Abstract

In this paper, an algorithm for the decomposition of a finite language is presented. The goal is to represent a finite language as a product (catenation) of two languages. This problem is thought to be intractable, although its NP-hardness has not been proven. The algorithm is based on checking through some subsets of the states of a minimal acyclic DFA. We also investigate two additional algorithms: the first is based on the use of integer linear programming, and the second is based on finding cliques in a graph. It appears that the latter approaches are inappropriate in terms of time consumption. The experiments have been performed for dozens of languages, and our results are reported.

Key Words: finite language • catenation • language decomposition • factorisation • prime language

Received for publication 17 January 2009.

1 We thank the following computing centres where the preliminary computations of our project were carried out: Academic Computer Centre in Gdansk TASK, Academic Computer Centre CYFRONET AGH, Kraków (computing grant 027/2004), Wroc-law Centre for Networking and Supercomputing (computing grant 04/97), Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modeling, Warsaw University (computing grant G27-9), and Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Centre. The research was supported by the Minister of Science and Higher Education Grant No 3177/B/T02/2008/35.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.