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