Certification Problem

Input (COPS 682)

We consider the TRS containing the following rules:

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

The underlying signature is as follows:

{h/2, a/0, b/0, c/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 = f(f(h(b,a)))
→ f(f(h(c,a)))
→ f(f(h(c,b)))
→ f(f(h(c,c)))
= t3

t0 = f(f(h(b,a)))
→ a
→ b
→ c
= t3

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