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