Certification Problem

Input (COPS 243)

We consider the TRS containing the following rules:

a → h(g(b)) (1)
a → h(c) (2)
b → g(b) (3)
h(g(x)) → g(h(x)) (4)
g(x) → h(x) (5)

The underlying signature is as follows:

{a/0, h/1, g/1, b/0, c/0}

Property / Task

Prove or disprove confluence.

Answer / Result

No.

Proof (by csi @ CoCo 2020)

1 Non-Joinable Fork

The system is not confluent due to the following forking derivations.

t0 = a
→ h(g(b))
= t1

t0 = a
→ h(c)
= t1

The two resulting terms cannot be joined for the following reason: