Certification Problem

Input (COPS 762)

We consider the TRS containing the following rules:

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

The underlying signature is as follows:

{a/0, b/0, f/2, c/0, g/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(a,b)
→ f(b,b)
= t1

t0 = f(a,b)
→ f(a,a)
→ c
= t2

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