Talk:Free variables and bound variables

The transition from the list of examples to the proposed precise definition, which I suspect may be too narrow, is abrupt. The article needs polishing, by someone familiar with logic and with the lambda calculus. Michael Hardy 22:51 Feb 23, 2003 (UTC)

The see also link for Closure appears to be the wrong kind of closure. It should probably be Closure (computer science). Glenn Willen (Talk) [[]] 16:18, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I wonder if the explanation free to be varied as was recently inserted in the article is not misleading. My guess is that the etimologically bound variable precedes free variable. CSTAR 05:47, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)

OK, I'm thinking about your first point. As to your second point, the words free and bound in common language go together so intimately that it's difficult to imagine one of the two having been introduced earlier than the other. Michael Hardy 23:47, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)

What I had in mind was the following. (As I know you know) bound is used in a related sense: A variable binding is similar to an assignment (in both mathematical languages and in programming languages). Alternatively, we can say a variable is bound to a value. This sense of bound is certainly different than being within the scope of a binder although I am not exactly sure how to express the difference. CSTAR 00:19, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

PIVOT variable = BOUND variable DUMMY variable is (special case of) bound variable that can have only values 0 or 1.