We are left with following problem, upon which TcT provides the certificate YES(?,O(n^1)). Strict Trs: { eq0(S(x'), S(x)) -> eq0(x', x) , eq0(S(x), 0()) -> 0() , eq0(0(), S(x)) -> 0() , eq0(0(), 0()) -> S(0()) } Obligation: innermost runtime complexity Answer: YES(?,O(n^1)) The input was oriented with the instance of 'Small Polynomial Path Order (PS)' as induced by the safe mapping safe(eq0) = {2}, safe(S) = {1}, safe(0) = {} and precedence empty . Following symbols are considered recursive: {eq0} The recursion depth is 1. For your convenience, here are the satisfied ordering constraints: eq0(S(; x'); S(; x)) > eq0(x'; x) eq0(S(; x); 0()) > 0() eq0(0(); S(; x)) > 0() eq0(0(); 0()) > S(; 0()) Hurray, we answered YES(?,O(n^1))