Certification Problem

Input (COPS 677)

We consider the TRS containing the following rules:

b → h(b,c) (1)
c → a (2)
a → f(a) (3)
b → c (4)
b → b (5)

The underlying signature is as follows:

{b/0, h/2, c/0, a/0, f/1}

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 = b
→ h(b,c)
→ h(b,c)
→ h(b,c)
= t3

t0 = b
→ c
→ a
→ f(a)
= t3

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