Certification Problem

Input (COPS 716)

We consider the TRS containing the following rules:

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

The underlying signature is as follows:

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

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(f(h(a,a)))
f(f(h(a,h(a,f(b)))))
= t1

t0 = f(f(h(a,a)))
f(f(f(a)))
= t1

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