Languages and their operations: determining equivalence [closed]

I'm currently taking a subject on theoretical computer science. This is not a homework question.

I'm having trouble figuring out to show the equivalence or disprove the equivalence. Consider any two languages $A$ and $B$. Is the following statement true or false?

$A^* \cup B^* = (A \cup B)^*$

Honestly, I use the above example mainly to ensure my question is less subjective. However I'm more concerned about the generalised approach to determining whether languages are equivalent (or subsets of each other and such) when operated on by various operators (kleene star, union, intersection, difference, concatenation). If I know that they are not equivalent I can basically just start bruteforcing for counter-examples, however I can't really think of any structured and consistent approach to answering questions such as the above.

Thanks.

• I just looked at the FAQ and I realise this question isn't exactly research-level. Should it be deleted? – oadams Nov 16 '10 at 5:18
• Yeah, it should probably be deleted. Thanks for self-policing. – Mark Reitblatt Nov 16 '10 at 5:25
• yes, this is not research related. Regarding your question, use the definition of * operator exactly like it is on both sides and you'll get the answer :-) – Marcos Villagra Nov 16 '10 at 5:26

Nope. Let $A = \{a\}$, $B= \{b\}$. Then $A^* = \{\epsilon,a,aa, \ldots\}$ and similarly for $B$. So, $A^*\cup B^*$ contains strings of repeated "a" or repeated "b". But $(A\cup B)^*$ contains strings like $ab$, which you can't get from $A^*$ or $B^*$.