alpha conversion English

Meaning alpha conversion meaning

What does alpha conversion mean?

alpha conversion noun

— (computing theory) One of the three rewrite rules of lambda calculus, in which a bound variable of a lambda term gets replaced by another variable across its entire scope. So if there is a lambda term of the form (\lambda x. t) and it is desired to have x replaced with y, then the rewritten lambda term would have the form (\lambda y. t[y/x]) where t[y/x], "t with y in stead of x", has had all free instances of x in t replaced with y.