---
tag: AWWS4VDNQX
kind: concept
name: Predicative
sources:
  - wikipedia: en:43839113@r1368323132
    locator: Glossary of Principia Mathematica, section Glossary
    note: adopted
    mention: wikipedia://en/43839113#V93L
    sections: [Summary]
inventory: [BZ206312P7]
---

## Summary

A century of scholarly discussion has not reached a definite consensus on exactly what this means, and *Principia Mathematica* gives several different explanations of it that are not easy to reconcile. See the introduction and \*12. \*12 says that a predicative function is one with no apparent (bound) variables, in other words a matrix.