Category talk:Computability theory

Should we merge Category:Recursion with Category:Recursion theory?
71.109.149.180 (talk) 05:25, 10 October 2010 (UTC) Should we merge Category:Recursion with Category:Recursion theory?71.109.149.180 (talk) 05:27, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

recursion
"Recursion theory" is simply a synonym for "computability theory". Now some computable functions are defined by recursion. But recursion theory is not the study of recursion, nor is it a subtopic of recursion, and most things in recursion theory have nothing to do with recursion. The two topics are sometimes related but are otherwise distinct fields of inquiry. &mdash; Carl (CBM · talk) 02:46, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Change in terminology: "recursive" to "computable"
There was consensus on the WikiProject Math (discussion here) that "computable" is a preferable alternative to the outdated, ambiguous "recursive" (in reference to computability/recursion theory). Therefore, articles in this category should generally use the term "computable X" rather than "recursive X". Exceptions should be made when "recursive" is still the popular name for the concept, e.g. Primitive recursive, μ-recursive, Kleene's recursion theorem. --Jordan Mitchell Barrett (talk) 22:51, 26 April 2021 (UTC)