No subject

"(By the way, why did Church choose the notation =E2=80=9C=CE=BB=E2=80=9D? =
In [Church,
1964, =C2=A72] he stated clearly that it came from the notation =E2=80=9C=
=CB=86 x=E2=80=9D used
for class-abstraction by Whitehead and Russell, by first modifying =E2=80=
=9C=CB=86
x=E2=80=9D to =E2=80=9C=E2=88=A7x=E2=80=9D to distinguish function-abstract=
ion from class-abstraction,
and then changing =E2=80=9C=E2=88=A7=E2=80=9D to =E2=80=9C=CE=BB=E2=80=9D f=
or ease of printing. This origin was
also reported in [Rosser, 1984, p.338]. On the other hand, in his
later years Church told two enquirers that the choice was more
accidental: a symbol was needed and =E2=80=9C=CE=BB=E2=80=9D just happened =
to be chosen.)"

[1] http://www-maths.swan.ac.uk/staff/jrh/papers/JRHHislamWeb.pdf

-- Niklas
2011/8/21 Christopher Done <chrisdone at googlemail.com>:
> IIRC Church found it easy to write on paper.
>
> On 21 August 2011 21:11, Jack Henahan <jhenahan at uvm.edu> wrote:
>> The short answer is "because Church said so". But yes, it is basically b=
ecause =CE=BB is the abstraction operator in the calculus.
>>
>> Why not alpha or beta calculus? What would we call alpha and beta conver=
sion, then? :D
>>
>> On Aug 21, 2011, at 12:37 PM, C K Kashyap wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>> Can someone please tell me what is the root of the name lambda calculus=
? Is it just because of the symbol lambda that is used?
>>> Why not alpha or beta calculus?
>>> Regards,
>>> Kashyap
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Haskell-Cafe mailing list
>>> Haskell-Cafe at haskell.org
>>> http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell-cafe
>>
>> Jack Henahan
>> jhenahan at uvm.edu
>> =3D=3D
>> Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about tele=
scopes.
>> -- Edsger Dijkstra
>> =3D=3D
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
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