On erasing productions in random context grammars

Abstract

Three open questions in the theory of regulated rewriting are addressed. The first is whether every permitting random context grammar has a non-erasing equivalent. The second asks whether the same is true for matrix grammars without appearance checking. The third concerns whether permitting random context grammars have the same generative capacity as matrix grammars without appearance checking. The main result is a positive answer to the first question. For the other two, conjectures are presented. It is then deduced from the main result that at least one of the two holds. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.