We are left with following problem, upon which TcT provides the certificate YES(?,O(n^5)). Strict Trs: { f_0(x) -> a() , f_1(x) -> g_1(x, x) , g_1(s(x), y) -> b(f_0(y), g_1(x, y)) , f_2(x) -> g_2(x, x) , g_2(s(x), y) -> b(f_1(y), g_2(x, y)) , f_3(x) -> g_3(x, x) , g_3(s(x), y) -> b(f_2(y), g_3(x, y)) , f_4(x) -> g_4(x, x) , g_4(s(x), y) -> b(f_3(y), g_4(x, y)) , f_5(x) -> g_5(x, x) , g_5(s(x), y) -> b(f_4(y), g_5(x, y)) } Obligation: innermost runtime complexity Answer: YES(?,O(n^5)) The input was oriented with the instance of 'Small Polynomial Path Order (PS,7-bounded)' as induced by the safe mapping safe(f_0) = {1}, safe(a) = {}, safe(f_1) = {}, safe(g_1) = {2}, safe(s) = {1}, safe(b) = {1, 2}, safe(f_2) = {}, safe(g_2) = {}, safe(f_3) = {}, safe(g_3) = {}, safe(f_4) = {}, safe(g_4) = {}, safe(f_5) = {}, safe(g_5) = {} and precedence f_1 > g_1, g_1 > f_0, f_2 > g_2, g_2 > f_1, f_3 > g_3, g_3 > f_2, f_4 > g_4, g_4 > f_3, f_5 > g_5, g_5 > f_4 . Following symbols are considered recursive: {g_1, g_2, g_3, g_4, g_5} The recursion depth is 5. For your convenience, here are the satisfied ordering constraints: f_0(; x) > a() f_1(x;) > g_1(x; x) g_1(s(; x); y) > b(; f_0(; y), g_1(x; y)) f_2(x;) > g_2(x, x;) g_2(s(; x), y;) > b(; f_1(y;), g_2(x, y;)) f_3(x;) > g_3(x, x;) g_3(s(; x), y;) > b(; f_2(y;), g_3(x, y;)) f_4(x;) > g_4(x, x;) g_4(s(; x), y;) > b(; f_3(y;), g_4(x, y;)) f_5(x;) > g_5(x, x;) g_5(s(; x), y;) > b(; f_4(y;), g_5(x, y;)) Hurray, we answered YES(?,O(n^5))