English

On properties of $B$-terms

Logic in Computer Science 2023-06-22 v3

Abstract

BB-terms are built from the BB combinator alone defined by Bλfgx.f(g x)B\equiv\lambda fgx. f(g~x), which is well known as a function composition operator. This paper investigates an interesting property of BB-terms, that is, whether repetitive right applications of a BB-term cycles or not. We discuss conditions for BB-terms to have and not to have the property through a sound and complete equational axiomatization. Specifically, we give examples of BB-terms which have the cyclic property and show that there are infinitely many BB-terms which do not have the property. Also, we introduce another interesting property about a canonical representation of BB-terms that is useful to detect cycles, or equivalently, to prove the cyclic property, with an efficient algorithm.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1901.11010,
  title  = {On properties of $B$-terms},
  author = {Mirai Ikebuchi and Keisuke Nakano},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1901.11010},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

Journal version in Logical Methods in Computer Science. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1703.10938

R2 v1 2026-06-23T07:27:26.551Z