Improving rewriting induction approach for proving ground confluence

Abstract

In (Aoto&Toyama, FSCD 2016), a method to prove ground confluence of many-sorted term rewriting systems based on rewriting induction is given. In this paper, we give several methods that add wider flexibility to the rewriting induction approach for proving ground confluence. Firstly, we give a method to deal with the case in which suitable rules are not presented in the input system. Our idea is to construct additional rewrite rules that supplement or replace existing rules in order to obtain a set of rules that is adequate for applying rewriting induction. Secondly, we give a method to deal with non-orientable constructor rules. This is accomplished by extending the inference system of rewriting induction and giving a sufficient criterion for the correctness of the system. Thirdly, we give a method to deal with disproving ground confluence. The presented methods are implemented in our ground confluence prover AGCP and experiments are reported. Our experiments reveal the presented methods are effective to deal with problems for which state-of-the-art ground confluence provers can not handle.