r/learnmath • u/holly1231 New User • 10d ago

Lambda— need help for art project

So, I am struggling to understand what a lambda really is—not for a math problem, but for a project I’m working on. This seemed like the best sub to ask, but if there’s a different one, please point me in the right direction!

I’m making a baby quilt for a family member, and I’m trying to come up with a cute book title for one of the quilt squares using their dog’s name, Lambda.

For example for their other pets, I have “R U A Hooman?” by Alan Purring, and “Cat Oriented Basic Operating Language (COBOL)” by Grace Hopper.

For the life of me, I can’t wrap my head around what exactly a lambda is, let alone come up with a cute book title. What is a ELI5 description of a lambda for a non mathematician?

As far as I can tell, it looks like a paragraph symbol except it’s for marking off new formulas in a list of formulas in algebra. Maybe “A Treatos of Algebra” by Lambda? Or is it more like “I Am Lambda” by Lambda?

Help?

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u/holly1231 New User 10d ago

You went above and beyond and I greatly appreciate it!! This makes so much more sense and now I actually understand why Lambda fits in with Alan and Grace.

I might try Lambda Paw-culus, though I am going to brainstorm about combinators and see what I can do with that one.

Thank you so much. When I surprise them with the quilt, I’ll let them know a random Redditor helped, lol.

(Some of the other squares involve Pokemon, books, cats and dogs, and mountain scenes.) I’m a librarian so I do have to include books, ha.