Lukas' Notes

Definition

Effectively Computable Function

A partial function is effectively computable if a procedure satisfying the requirements of effective computation computes exactly its values: for every input tuple and every ,

Here, is the domain on which is defined. The procedure returns the correct value on this domain; outside it, the procedure produces no result and may run indefinitely.

Total function

If , the procedure must halt and return on every input .

The Church–Turing thesis identifies effectively computable functions with those computable by a Turing machine.