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A total, ground path ordering for proving termination of AC-rewrite systems

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Rewriting Techniques and Applications (RTA 1997)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1232))

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Abstract

A new path ordering for showing termination of associative-commutative (AC) rewrite systems is defined. If the precedence relation on function symbols is total, the ordering is total on ground terms, but unlike the ordering proposed by Rubio and Nieuwenhuis, this ordering can orient the distributivity property in the proper direction. The ordering is defined in a natural way using recursive path ordering with status as the underlying basis. This settles a longstanding problem in termination orderings for AC rewrite systems. The ordering can be used to define an ordering on nonground terms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, State University of New York, 12222, Albany, NY

    Deepak Kapur

  2. Computer Science Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India

    G. Sivakumar

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  1. Deepak Kapur
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  2. G. Sivakumar
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Hubert Comon

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© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Kapur, D., Sivakumar, G. (1997). A total, ground path ordering for proving termination of AC-rewrite systems. In: Comon, H. (eds) Rewriting Techniques and Applications. RTA 1997. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1232. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-62950-5_67

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-62950-5_67

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-62950-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69051-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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