Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/iii/paper-120/3/c/solution

By assumption the set of combinators is recursively enumerable. Finite beta reduction sequences, and hence finite certificates of beta equivalence, are also recursively enumerable.
For a closed term , choose a fresh variable . The term is a fixed-point combinator exactly when
Indeed, substitution then gives the required equivalence for every , and the forward direction follows by taking . Dovetail the enumeration of closed terms with all finite beta-equivalence certificates. Whenever a certificate of the displayed equivalence is found, output . This enumerates exactly the fixed-point combinators, proving recursively enumerable fixed-point combinators.

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