Well, yes add1 and add2 are equivalent. You can use either one or the other. The type annotation can be read: for all type 'a' such as 'a' is an instance of class Num, there exists a function add1 that takes an 'a' and returns an 'a'. 2011/6/5 Patrick Browne

Are the following two functions equivalent? (i.e. do they describe the same computation)

let add1 a = a + 2 let add2 = \ a -> a + 2

:t add1 add1 :: forall a. (Num a) => a -> a

:t add2 add2 :: forall a. (Num a) => a -> a

Does Haskell interpreter convert all functions in the form of add1 to the lambda form of add2?

Does this lambda form represent the operational semantics of Haskell?

How should I translate the type information into English?

Thanks Pat

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