lambda-explorer icon indicating copy to clipboard operation
lambda-explorer copied to clipboard

The tool does not recognize `λn. n` as eta-equivalent to the Church 1 (`λfn. f n`).

Open anton-trunov opened this issue 8 years ago • 6 comments

This might prevent it from recognizing E := λmn. n m as a solution to the exponentiation problem. (I can't check it right now). But it certainly does not help when testing.

anton-trunov avatar Jun 07 '17 18:06 anton-trunov

Thank you so much for contributing! I guess I'd love to know a little more about the theory here-- do we generally consider eta equivalence rather than just alpha equivalence when asking "is this church numeral 1?"

evinism avatar Jun 07 '17 21:06 evinism

Most sources seem to do so. E.g. when converting from a Church numeral to, say, integer one usually passes a (+1) function as the first argument and 0 as the second -- λfz. f z gets converted to 1, so does λx. x.

anton-trunov avatar Jun 08 '17 05:06 anton-trunov

Solid, I'll implement that then(or you can if you want)! some links for reference would be good, too, if you're willing.

evinism avatar Jun 08 '17 05:06 evinism

Off the top of my head: Wikipedia and "Types and Programming Languages" by B. Pierce assume eta-equivalence.

anton-trunov avatar Jun 08 '17 05:06 anton-trunov

implemented in https://github.com/evinism/lambda-explorer/pull/51, still waiting on getting the book so i actually know what i'm doing

evinism avatar Oct 01 '17 16:10 evinism

Cool! Will try the tool again in some time! Thanks!

anton-trunov avatar Oct 01 '17 17:10 anton-trunov