YES(?,O(n^2)) We are left with following problem, upon which TcT provides the certificate YES(?,O(n^2)). Strict Trs: { g(0()) -> 0() , g(s(x)) -> f(g(x)) , f(0()) -> 0() } Obligation: innermost runtime complexity Answer: YES(?,O(n^2)) The input was oriented with the instance of 'Small Polynomial Path Order (PS)' as induced by the safe mapping safe(g) = {}, safe(0) = {}, safe(s) = {1}, safe(f) = {1} and precedence g > f . Following symbols are considered recursive: {g, f} The recursion depth is 2. For your convenience, here are the satisfied ordering constraints: g(0();) > 0() g(s(; x);) > f(; g(x;)) f(; 0()) > 0() Hurray, we answered YES(?,O(n^2))