Decidable Approximations of Sets of Descendants and Sets of Normal Forms - extended version -

Abstract : We present here decidable approximations of sets of descendants and sets of normal forms of Term Rewriting Systems, based on specific tree automata techniques. In the context of rewriting logic, a Term Rewriting System is a program, and a normal form is a result of the program. Thus, approximations of sets of descendants and sets of normal forms provide tools for analysing a few properties of programs: we show how to compute a superset of results, to prove the sufficient completeness property, or to find a criterion for proving termination under a specific strategy, the sequential reduction strategy.