Joe Armstrong explains it in his blog post with an example.
1> F = fun F(0) -> 1;
F(N) -> N * F(N - 1)
end.
#Fun
Previously you have to pass in the function as one of the args for anonymous recursive calls. (Think of y-combinator).
1> F = fun(F, 0) -> 1;
(F, N) -> N*F(F, N-1)
end.
#Fun