We consider the system rec. Alphabet: 0 : [] --> nat rec : [nat * a * nat -> a -> a] --> a s : [nat] --> nat Rules: rec(0, x, f) => x rec(s(x), y, f) => f x rec(x, y, f) This AFS is converted to an AFSM simply by replacing all free variables by meta-variables (with arity 0). We use the dependency pair framework as described in [Kop12, Ch. 6/7], with static dependency pairs (see [KusIsoSakBla09] and the adaptation for AFSMs and accessible arguments in [Kop13]). We thus obtain the following dependency pair problem (P_0, R_0, static, formative): Dependency Pairs P_0: 0] rec#(s(X), Y, F) =#> rec#(X, Y, F) Rules R_0: rec(0, X, F) => X rec(s(X), Y, F) => F X rec(X, Y, F) Thus, the original system is terminating if (P_0, R_0, static, formative) is finite. We consider the dependency pair problem (P_0, R_0, static, formative). This combination (P_0, R_0) has no formative rules! We will name the empty set of rules:R_1. By [Kop12, Thm. 7.17], we may replace the dependency pair problem (P_0, R_0, static, formative) by (P_0, R_1, static, formative). Thus, the original system is terminating if (P_0, R_1, static, formative) is finite. We consider the dependency pair problem (P_0, R_1, static, formative). We will use the reduction pair processor [Kop12, Thm. 7.16]. It suffices to find a standard reduction pair [Kop12, Def. 6.69]. Thus, we must orient: rec#(s(X), Y, F) >? rec#(X, Y, F) We orient these requirements with a polynomial interpretation in the natural numbers. The following interpretation satisfies the requirements: rec# = \y0y1G2.y0 s = \y0.3 + 2y0 Using this interpretation, the requirements translate to: [[rec#(s(_x0), _x1, _F2)]] = 3 + 2x0 > x0 = [[rec#(_x0, _x1, _F2)]] By the observations in [Kop12, Sec. 6.6], this reduction pair suffices; we may thus replace a dependency pair problem (P_0, R_1) by ({}, R_1). By the empty set processor [Kop12, Thm. 7.15] this problem may be immediately removed. As all dependency pair problems were succesfully simplified with sound (and complete) processors until nothing remained, we conclude termination. +++ Citations +++ [Kop12] C. Kop. Higher Order Termination. PhD Thesis, 2012. [Kop13] C. Kop. Static Dependency Pairs with Accessibility. Unpublished manuscript, http://cl-informatik.uibk.ac.at/users/kop/static.pdf, 2013. [KusIsoSakBla09] K. Kusakari, Y. Isogai, M. Sakai, and F. Blanqui. Static Dependency Pair Method Based On Strong Computability for Higher-Order Rewrite Systems. In volume 92(10) of IEICE Transactions on Information and Systems. 2007--2015, 2009.