Certification Problem

Input (COPS 736)

We consider the TRS containing the following rules:

a a (1)
f(f(x,a),a) b (2)

The underlying signature is as follows:

{a/0, f/2, b/0}

Property / Task

Prove or disprove confluence.

Answer / Result

No.

Proof (by ACP @ CoCo 2023)

1 Non-Joinable Fork

The system is not confluent due to the following forking derivations.

t0 = f(f(f(c_1,a),a),a)
f(b,a)
= t1

t0 = f(f(f(c_1,a),a),a)
b
= t1

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