We consider the system 09ex. Alphabet: c : [] --> ((C -> L) -> L) -> C d : [] --> C ex : [] --> C -> L nil : [] --> L Rules: ex d => nil ex (c (/\f.g f)) => g ex Using the transformations described in [Kop11], this system can be brought in a form without leading free variables in the left-hand side, and where the left-hand side of a variable is always a functional term or application headed by a functional term. We now transform the resulting AFS into an AFSM by replacing all free variables by meta-variables (with arity 0). This leads to the following AFSM: Alphabet: c : [(C -> L) -> L] --> C d : [] --> C ex : [] --> C -> L nil : [] --> L ~AP1 : [(C -> L) -> L * C -> L] --> L Rules: ex d => nil ex c(/\f.~AP1(F, f)) => ~AP1(F, ex) ~AP1(F, G) => F G Symbol ~AP1 is an encoding for application that is only used in innocuous ways. We can simplify the program (without losing non-termination) by removing it. This gives: Alphabet: c : [(C -> L) -> L] --> C d : [] --> C ex : [] --> C -> L nil : [] --> L Rules: ex d => nil ex c(/\f.X(f)) => X(ex) We use rule removal, following [Kop12, Theorem 2.23]. This gives the following requirements (possibly using Theorems 2.25 and 2.26 in [Kop12]): ex d >? nil ex c(/\f.X(f)) >? X(ex) We orient these requirements with a polynomial interpretation in the natural numbers. The following interpretation satisfies the requirements: c = \G0.3 + G0(\y1.0) d = 3 ex = \y0.0 nil = 0 Using this interpretation, the requirements translate to: [[ex d]] = 3 > 0 = [[nil]] [[ex c(/\f._x0(f))]] = 3 + F0(\y0.0) > F0(\y0.0) = [[_x0(ex)]] We can thus remove the following rules: ex d => nil ex c(/\f.X(f)) => X(ex) All rules were succesfully removed. Thus, termination of the original system has been reduced to termination of the beta-rule, which is well-known to hold. +++ Citations +++ [Kop11] C. Kop. Simplifying Algebraic Functional Systems. In Proceedings of CAI 2011, volume 6742 of LNCS. 201--215, Springer, 2011. [Kop12] C. Kop. Higher Order Termination. PhD Thesis, 2012.