How To Measure The Infinite Mathematics With Infinite And Infinitesimal Numbers

'This text shows that the study of the almost-forgotten, non-Archimedean mathematics deserves to be utilized more intently in a variety of fields within the larger domain of applied mathematics.'CHOICEThis book contains an original introduction to the use of infinitesimal and infinite numbers, namely, the Alpha-Theory, which can be considered as an alternative approach to nonstandard analysis.The basic principles are presented in an elementary way by using the ordinary language of mathematics; this is to be contrasted with other presentations of nonstandard analysis where technical notions from logic are required since the beginning. Some applications are included and aimed at showing the power of the theory.The book also provides a comprehensive exposition of the Theory of Numerosity, a new way of counting (countable) infinite sets that maintains the ancient Euclid's Principle: 'The whole is larger than its parts'. The book is organized into five parts: Alpha-Calculus, Alpha-Theory, Applications, Foundations, and Numerosity Theory.

The first chapter of the book gives a brief description of the modern viewpoint on real numbers and presents the famous results of Georg Cantor regarding infinity. The second chapter has a preparative character and links the first and the third parts of the book. On the one hand, it shows that the commonly accepted point of view on numbers and infinity is not so clear as it seems at first sight (for example, it leads to numerous paradoxes). On the other hand, the chapter contains preliminary observations that will be used in the constructive introduction of a new arithmetic of infinity, given in the third chapter. This last part of the book contains the main results. It introduces notions of infinite and infinitesimal numbers, extended natural and real numbers, and operations with them. Surprisingly, the introduced arithmetical operations result in being very simple and are obtained as immediate extensions of the usual addition, multiplication, and division of finite numbers to infinite ones. This simplicity is a consequence of a newly developed positional numeral system used to express infinite numbers. Finally, the chapter contains solutions to a number of paradoxes regarding infinity (we can say that the new approach allows us to avoid paradoxes) and some examples of applications. In order to broaden the audience, the book was written as a popular one. The interested reader can find a number of technical articles of several researches that use the approach introduced here for solving a variety of research problems at the web page of the author. The author Yaroslav D. Sergeyev is Distinguished Professor and Head of Numerical Calculus Laboratory at the University of Calabria, Italy. He is also Professor (part-time contract) at Lobachevsky Nizhni Novgorod State University, Russia. His research interests include numerical analysis, global optimization, infinity computing, set theory, number theory, fractals, and parallel computing. He has been awarded several national and international prizes (Pythagoras International Prize in Mathematics, Italy; Lagrange Lecture, Turin University, Italy; MAIK Prize for the best scientific monograph published in Russian, Moscow, etc.). His list of scientific publications contains more than 200 items. He is a member of editorial boards of 5 international journals and has given more than 50 plenary and keynote lectures at prestigious international congresses.

Conceived by the author as an introduction to "why the calculus works," this volume offers a 4-part treatment: an overview; a detailed examination of the infinite processes arising in the realm of numbers; an exploration of the extent to which familiar geometric notions depend on infinite processes; and the evolution of the concept of functions. 1982 edition.

Erickson explores and explains the infinite and the infinitesimal with application to absolute space, time and motion, as well as absolute zero temperature in this thoughtful treatise. Mathematicians, scientists and philosophers have explored the realms of the continuous and discrete for centuries. Erickson delves into the history of these concepts and how people learn and understand them. He regards the infinitesimal as the key to understanding much of the scientific basis of the universe, and intertwines mathematical examples and historical context from Aristotle, Kant, Euler, Newton and more with his deductions-resulting in a readable treatment of complex topics. The reader will gain an understanding of potential versus actual infinity, irrational and imaginary numbers, the infinitesimal, and the tangent, among other concepts. At the heart of Ericksons work is the veritable number system, in which positive and negative numbers are incompatible for the basic mathematical operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, roots and ratios. This number system, he demonstrates, can provide a new interpretation of imaginary numbers, as a combination of the real and the veritable. Erickson further explores limits, derivatives and integrals before turning his attention to non-Euclidean geometry. In each topic, he applies his new understanding of the infinitesimal to the ideas of mathematics and draws conclusions. In the case of non-Euclidean geometry, the author determines that its inconsistent with the infinitesimal. Erickson supplies illustrative examples both in words and images-he clearly defines new notation as needed for concepts such as eternity, the infinitesimal, the instant and an unlimited quantity. In the final chapters, the author addresses absolute space, time and motion through the lens of the infinitesimal. While explaining his deductions and thoughts on these complex topics, he raises new questions for his readers to contemplate, such as the origin of memory. A weighty tome for devotees of mathematics and physics that raises interesting questions.

This book explores and articulates the concepts of the continuous and the infinitesimal from two points of view: the philosophical and the mathematical. The first section covers the history of these ideas in philosophy. Chapter one, entitled ‘The continuous and the discrete in Ancient Greece, the Orient and the European Middle Ages,’ reviews the work of Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, and other Ancient Greeks; the elements of early Chinese, Indian and Islamic thought; and early Europeans including Henry of Harclay, Nicholas of Autrecourt, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, Thomas Bradwardine and Nicolas Oreme. The second chapter of the book covers European thinkers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: Galileo, Newton, Leibniz, Descartes, Arnauld, Fermat, and more. Chapter three, 'The age of continuity,’ discusses eighteenth century mathematicians including Euler and Carnot, and philosophers, among them Hume, Kant and Hegel. Examining the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the fourth chapter describes the reduction of the continuous to the discrete, citing the contributions of Bolzano, Cauchy and Reimann. Part one of the book concludes with a chapter on divergent conceptions of the continuum, with the work of nineteenth and early twentieth century philosophers and mathematicians, including Veronese, Poincaré, Brouwer, and Weyl. Part two of this book covers contemporary mathematics, discussing topology and manifolds, categories, and functors, Grothendieck topologies, sheaves, and elementary topoi. Among the theories presented in detail are non-standard analysis, constructive and intuitionist analysis, and smooth infinitesimal analysis/synthetic differential geometry. No other book so thoroughly covers the history and development of the concepts of the continuous and the infinitesimal.

This modern introduction to infinitesimal methods is a translation of the book Métodos Infinitesimais de Análise Matemática by José Sousa Pinto of the University of Aveiro, Portugal and is aimed at final year or graduate level students with a background in calculus. Surveying modern reformulations of the infinitesimal concept with a thoroughly comprehensive exposition of important and influential hyperreal numbers, the book includes previously unpublished material on the development of hyperfinite theory of Schwartz distributions and its application to generalised Fourier transforms and harmonic analysis. This translation by Roy Hoskins was also greatly assisted by the comments and constructive criticism of Professor Victor Neves, of the University of Aveiro. Surveys modern reformulations of the infinitesimal concept with a comprehensive exposition of important and influential hyperreal numbers Includes material on the development of hyperfinite theory of Schwartz distributions and its application to generalised Fourier transforms and harmonic analysis

An accessible history and philosophical commentary on our notion of infinity. How can the infinite, a subject so remote from our finite experience, be an everyday tool for the working mathematician? Blending history, philosophy, mathematics, and logic, Shaughan Lavine answers this question with exceptional clarity. Making use of the mathematical work of Jan Mycielski, he demonstrates that knowledge of the infinite is possible, even according to strict standards that require some intuitive basis for knowledge. Praise for Understanding the Infinite “Understanding the Infinite is a remarkable blend of mathematics, modern history, philosophy, and logic, laced with refreshing doses of common sense. It is a potted history of, and a philosophical commentary on, the modern notion of infinity as formalized in axiomatic set theory . . . An amazingly readable [book] given the difficult subject matter. Most of all, it is an eminently sensible book. Anyone who wants to explore the deep issues surrounding the concept of infinity . . . will get a great deal of pleasure from it.” —Ian Stewart, New Scientist “How, in a finite world, does one obtain any knowledge about the infinite? Lavine argues that intuitions about the infinite derive from facts about the finite mathematics of indefinitely large size . . . The issues are delicate, but the writing is crisp and exciting, the arguments original. This book should interest readers whether philosophically, historically, or mathematically inclined, and large parts are within the grasp of the general reader. Highly recommended.” —D. V. Feldman, Choice

Offers simplified explanations and illustrations of such advanced mathematical concepts as transcendental numbers, infinite series, continuity, and Godel's proof

The goal of this monograph is to give an accessible introduction to nonstandard methods and their applications, with an emphasis on combinatorics and Ramsey theory. It includes both new nonstandard proofs of classical results and recent developments initially obtained in the nonstandard setting. This makes it the first combinatorics-focused account of nonstandard methods to be aimed at a general (graduate-level) mathematical audience. This book will provide a natural starting point for researchers interested in approaching the rapidly growing literature on combinatorial results obtained via nonstandard methods. The primary audience consists of graduate students and specialists in logic and combinatorics who wish to pursue research at the interface between these areas.