Church-Rosser theorem
The
Church-Rosser theorem states that, in the
lambda calculus,
a term has at most one
normal form. Specifically, if two different reductions of a term both terminate in normal forms, then the two normal forms will be identical. It is the Church-Rosser theorem that justifies references to "
the normal form" of a certain term.
The theorem was discovered in 1937 by Alonzo Church and J. Barkley Rosser.
See also lambda calculus.