Talk:Alonzo Church: Difference between revisions

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Quote:

"His discovery of the lambda calculus."

Is "discovery" the right word to say? Talam 14:36, 16 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

• JA: Yes, that is a common mathematical idiom. Jon Awbrey 14:40, 16 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

• • Some would say that "invention" is more appropriate.--SallySprite 22:57, 7 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This brings us to the old problem of Realism which raises the question, "Did Lambda Calculus always have a reality in the external world and was only brought to our notice recently by Church's writings?" According to Mathematical Realists, Lambda Calculus has always existed in the world apart from human brains. Church's brain discovered it and consequently it became a part of the (Ideal, subjective), internal operations of many human brains. In a nutshell, is it real/objective/external or ideal/subjective/internal?Lestrade (talk) 03:30, 28 January 2008 (UTC)lestrade[reply]

Not to interrupt the display of pretentiousness or anything, but lambda calculus was developed as a notation for talking about mathematical objects (in particular, functions). If there is an issue of realism here, it is a rather implausible realism about formal languages, not a traditional form of realism about mathematical objects. 145.18.22.149 (talk) 15:31, 16 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The Introduction mentions the Church-Rosser Theorem (counfluence of lambda calculus) among his major achievements, but doesn't mention Church's Theorem (undecidability of predicate logic); in the main text the situation is the opposite. I would say the Introduction ought to be brought in line with the main text in this regard. Predicate logic is the _lingua franca_ of symbolic logic, whereas the lambda calculus -- while by no means unimportant -- is but one of many equally well-known theoretical models of computation. Nastor (talk) 14:10, 22 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Is it correct for Church's theorem to link to the Entscheidungsproblem, since Church's theorem relates to the undecidability of the Entscheidungsproblem? Does Church's theorem warrant a separate article? Froskoy (talk) 08:21, 5 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Alonzo and his uncle might have been named after the small town in Kentucky, in America.