We consider reductions in Orthogonal Expression Reduction Systems (OERS), that is, Orthogonal Term Rewriting Systems with bound variables and substitutions, as in the -calculus. We design a strategy that for any given term t constructs a longest reduction starting from t if t is strongly normalizable, and constructs an infinite reduction otherwise. The Conservation Theorem for OERSs follows easily from the properties of the strategy. We develop a method for computing the length of a longest reduction starting from a strongly normalizable term. We study properties of pure substitutions and several kinds of similarity of redexes. We apply these results to construct an algorithm for computing lengths of longest reductions in strongly persistent OERSs that does not require actual transformation of the input term. As a corollary, we have an algorithm for computing lengths of longest developments in OERSs. 1 Introduction A strategy is perpetual if, given a term t, it constructs an infinit...

This paper surveys a part of the theory of fi-reduction in -calculus which might aptly be called perpetual reductions. The theory is concerned with perpetual reduction strategies, i.e., reduction strategies that compute infinite reduction paths from -terms (when possible), and with perpetual redexes, i.e., redexes whose contraction in -terms preserves the possibility (when present) of infinite reduction paths. The survey not only recasts classical theorems in a unified setting, but also offers new results, proofs, and techniques, as well as a number of applications to problems in -calculus and type theory. 1. Introduction Considerable attention has been devoted to classification of reduction strategies in type-free -calculus [4, 6, 7, 15, 38, 44, 81]---see also [2, Ch. 13]. We are concerned with strategies differing in the length of reduction paths. This paper draws on several sources. In late 1994, van Raamsdonk and Severi [59] and Srensen [66, 67] independently developed ...

This paper surveys a part of the theory of fi-reduction in λ-calculus which might aptly be called perpetual reductions. The theory is concerned with perpetual reduction strategies, i.e., reduction strategies that compute infinite reduction paths from λ-terms (when possible), and with perpetual redexes, i.e., redexes whose contraction in λ-terms preserves the possibility (when present) of infinite reduction paths. The survey not only recasts classical theorems in a unified setting, but also offers new results, proofs, and techniques, as well as a number of applications to problems in λ-calculus and type theory.

The Barendregt-Geuvers-Klop conjecture states that every weakly normalizing pure type system is also strongly normalizing. We show that this is true for a uniform class of systems which includes, e.g., the left hand side of Barendregt's -cube as well as the system U . This seems to be the first result giving a positive answer to the conjecture not merely for some concrete systems for which strong normalization is known to hold, but for a uniform class of systems in which not all systems are strongly normalizing. 1.

We embed the standard #-calculus, denoted #, into two larger #-calculi, denoted # # and &# # . The standard notion of #-reduction for # corresponds to two new notions of reduction, # # for # # and &# # for &# # . A distinctive feature of our new calculus # # (resp., &# # ) is that, in every function application, an argument is used at most once (resp., exactly once) in the body of the function. We establish various connections between the three notions of reduction, #, # # and &# # . As a consequence, we provide an alternative framework to study the relationship between #-weak normalization and #-strong normalization, and give a new proof of the oft-mentioned equivalence between #-strong normalization of standard #-terms and typability in a system of "intersection types".

For a notion of reduction in a #-calculus one can ask whether a term satises conservation and uniform normalization. Conservation means that single-step reductions of the term preserve innite reduction paths from the term. Uniform normalization means that either the term will have no reduction paths leading to a normal form, or all reduction paths will lead to a normal form.