Certification Problem

Input (COPS 1079)

We consider two TRSs R and S where R contains the rules

f(g(f(x))) → g(f(g(x))) (1)
f(c) → c (2)
g(c) → c (3)

and S contains the following rules:

f(f(f(x))) → a (4)
f(f(a)) → a (5)
f(a) → a (6)
f(f(g(g(x)))) → f(a) (7)
g(f(a)) → a (8)
g(a) → a (9)

The underlying signature is as follows:

{a/0, c/0, f/1, g/1}

Property / Task

Prove or disprove commutation.

Answer / Result

No.

Proof (by ACP @ CoCo 2023)

1 Non-Joinable Fork

The systems are not commuting due to the following forking derivations.
t0 = f(g(f(f(f(x)))))
→S f(g(a))
= s1
and
t0 = f(g(f(f(f(x)))))
→R g(f(g(f(f(x)))))
= t1
There is no possibility to join s1→R*·←S* t1 for the following reason: