Certification Problem

Input (COPS 392)

We consider the TRS containing the following rules:

c → f(a,b) (1)
c → f(a,a) (2)
f(x,x) → x (3)
f(x,y) → f(y,x) (4)
f(a,a) → f(b,b) (5)
f(b,b) → f(a,a) (6)

The underlying signature is as follows:

{c/0, f/2, a/0, b/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 = f(a,a)
→ a
= t1

t0 = f(a,a)
→ f(b,b)
→ f(b,b)
→ b
= t3

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