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The product logarithm Lambert W function plotted in the complex plane from −2 − 2i to 2 + 2i The graph of y = W(x) for real x < 6 and y > −4. The upper branch (blue) with y ≥ −1 is the graph of the function W 0 (principal branch), the lower branch (magenta) with y ≤ −1 is the graph of the function W −1. The minimum value of x is ...
In this case particular lambda terms (which define functions) are considered as values. "Running" (beta reducing) the fixed-point combinator on the encoding gives a lambda term for the result which may then be interpreted as fixed-point value. Alternately, a function may be considered as a lambda term defined purely in lambda calculus.
The names "lambda abstraction", "lambda function", and "lambda expression" refer to the notation of function abstraction in lambda calculus, where the usual function f (x) = M would be written (λx. M), and where M is an expression that uses x. Compare to the Python syntax of lambda x: M.
The Church numeral 3 represents the action of applying any given function three times to a value. The supplied function is first applied to a supplied parameter and then successively to its own result. The end result is not the numeral 3 (unless the supplied parameter happens to be 0 and the function is a successor function).
The term closure is often used as a synonym for anonymous function, though strictly, an anonymous function is a function literal without a name, while a closure is an instance of a function, a value, whose non-local variables have been bound either to values or to storage locations (depending on the language; see the lexical environment section below).
Given a lambda term with first argument representing recursive call (e.g. G here), the fixed-point combinator FIX will return a self-replicating lambda expression representing the recursive function (here, F). The function does not need to be explicitly passed to itself at any point, for the self-replication is arranged in advance, when it is ...
The use of an initial value is necessary when the combining function f is asymmetrical in its types (e.g. a → b → b), i.e. when the type of its result is different from the type of the list's elements. Then an initial value must be used, with the same type as that of f 's result, for a linear chain of applications to be possible. Whether it ...
In numerical analysis, a root-finding algorithm is an algorithm for finding zeros, also called "roots", of continuous functions. A zero of a function f is a number x such that f(x) = 0. As, generally, the zeros of a function cannot be computed exactly nor expressed in closed form, root-finding