Consider the TRS R consisting of the rewrite rules 1: a__zeros -> cons(0,zeros) 2: a__tail(cons(X,XS)) -> mark(XS) 3: mark(zeros) -> a__zeros 4: mark(tail(X)) -> a__tail(mark(X)) 5: mark(cons(X1,X2)) -> cons(mark(X1),X2) 6: mark(0) -> 0 7: a__zeros -> zeros 8: a__tail(X) -> tail(X) There are 5 dependency pairs: 9: A__TAIL(cons(X,XS)) -> MARK(XS) 10: MARK(zeros) -> A__ZEROS 11: MARK(tail(X)) -> A__TAIL(mark(X)) 12: MARK(tail(X)) -> MARK(X) 13: MARK(cons(X1,X2)) -> MARK(X1) The approximated dependency graph contains one SCC: {9,11-13}. - Consider the SCC {9,11-13}. By taking the polynomial interpretation [0] = [zeros] = 0, [a__zeros] = 1, [a__tail](x) = [A__TAIL](x) = [mark](x) = [MARK](x) = [tail](x) = x + 1 and [cons](x,y) = x + y + 1, the rules in {1,3-5,8,11} are weakly decreasing and the rules in {2,6,7,9,12,13} are strictly decreasing. Hence the TRS is terminating.