In mathematical logic and computer science, lambda calculus, also λ-calculus, is a formal system. It was designed to investigate the definition of functions, and how to apply them. It is also a tool for analysing recursion. It was introduced by Alonzo Church and Stephen Cole Kleene in the 1930s. Church used lambda calculus in 1936 to give a negative answer to the Entscheidungsproblem. 