The concept of a recursively definite predicate of natural numbers was introduced by F. B. Fitch in his An extension of basic logic as follows:

Every recursive predicate is recursively definite. If R(x1, …, xn) is recursively definite so is (Ey)R(x1, …, xn−1, y) and (y)R(x1, …, xn−1, y). If R is recursively definite and S is the proper ancestral of R, then S is recursively definite, where the proper ancestral of a relation is defined as follows: if R is of even degree, say 2m, then the proper ancestral of R is the relation S such that for all x1, …, xm, y1, …, ym, S(x1, …, xm, y1, …, ym) is true if and only if there is a finite sequence of sequences (z11, …, zm1), (z12, …, Zm2), …, (z1k, …, Zmk) such that R(Z11, …, Zm1, z12, …, zm2), R(z12, …, zm2, z13, …, zm3), …, R(z1,k−1, z1k, …, Zmk) are all true, where (z11, …, zm1) is (x1, …, xm) and (z1k, …, zmk) is (y1, …, ym).

An arithmetic predicate is one which is definable in terms of the operations ‘+’ and ‘·’ of elementary arithmetic, the connectives of the classical prepositional calculus, and quantifiers.