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The Lumenary

Practice · Advanced undergraduate

The λ-calculus

The λ-calculus

Warm-upHuman

List the free variables of the term λx. x y (λy. y z)\lambda x.\, x\, y\, (\lambda y.\, y\, z). Enter each variable name once.

Write elements separated by commas. Order and repeats don’t matter — just like in a set!

The λ-calculus

Warm-upHuman

What does (λx. λy. x) y(\lambda x.\, \lambda y.\, x)\, y reduce to in one β-step (with yy free)?

Choose one

The λ-calculus

CoreHuman

With Church numerals nˉ=λf x. fn x\bar n = \lambda f\, x.\, f^n\, x, the term 3ˉ 2ˉ\bar 3\, \bar 2 (the numeral 33 applied to the numeral 22) β-reduces to a Church numeral kˉ\bar k. What is kk?

The λ-calculus

CoreHuman

Which of these terms have no normal form? Here Ω=(λx. x x)(λx. x x)\Omega = (\lambda x.\, x\, x)(\lambda x.\, x\, x), K=λx y. xK = \lambda x\, y.\, x, I=λx. xI = \lambda x.\, x. Choose all that apply.

Choose all that apply

The λ-calculus

CoreHuman

Why does the proof of the Church–Rosser theorem go through parallel reduction ⇒\Rightarrow instead of showing directly that one-step reduction →\to has the diamond property?

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The λ-calculus

StretchHuman

In Turing's proof of weak normalisation we contract a redex R=(λx:A. P) QR = (\lambda x{:}A.\, P)\, Q of maximal degree dd chosen so that QQ contains no redex of degree dd. Which part of the argument needs this choice?

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The λ-calculus

CoreHuman

Which of these terms has a type in the simply typed λ-calculus (for suitable types on the bound variables)?

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The λ-calculus

CoreFormal

In the lesson's Lean file, Step t u is one β-step and ReflTransGen Step t u is t↠ut \twoheadrightarrow u. Which statement is the Church–Rosser theorem, as proved there?

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The λ-calculus

CoreComputational

Python's lambda can run Church numerals directly. With church(n) and to_int below, define times(m, n) and exp(m, n) returning the Church numerals for m⋅nm \cdot n and mnm^n, using only application and lambda (no conversion to int inside them).

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