We are left with following problem, upon which TcT provides the certificate YES(?,O(n^1)). Strict Trs: { *(x, 0()) -> 0() , *(*(x, y), z) -> *(x, *(y, z)) , *(i(x), x) -> 1() , *(1(), y) -> y } Obligation: runtime complexity Answer: YES(?,O(n^1)) The problem is match-bounded by 1. The enriched problem is compatible with the following automaton. { *_0(2, 2) -> 1 , *_0(2, 3) -> 1 , *_0(2, 4) -> 1 , *_0(3, 2) -> 1 , *_0(3, 3) -> 1 , *_0(3, 4) -> 1 , *_0(4, 2) -> 1 , *_0(4, 3) -> 1 , *_0(4, 4) -> 1 , i_0(2) -> 1 , i_0(2) -> 2 , i_0(3) -> 1 , i_0(3) -> 2 , i_0(4) -> 1 , i_0(4) -> 2 , 1_0() -> 1 , 1_0() -> 3 , 1_1() -> 1 , 0_0() -> 1 , 0_0() -> 4 , 0_1() -> 1 } Hurray, we answered YES(?,O(n^1))