Certification Problem

Input (COPS 695)

We consider the TRS containing the following rules:

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

The underlying signature is as follows:

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

Property / Task

Prove or disprove confluence.

Answer / Result

No.

Proof (by ACP @ CoCo 2022)

1 Non-Joinable Fork

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

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

t0 = f(b)
f(h(b,a))
f(h(a,a))
f(c)
c
a
= t5

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