The Continuum and the Evolution of the Concept of Real Number

John L. Bell ()
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John L. Bell: The University of Western Ontario, Department of Philosophy

A chapter in Handbook of the History and Philosophy of Mathematical Practice, 2024, pp 1473-1562 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter traces the historical and conceptual development of the idea of the continuum and the allied concept of real number. Particular attention is paid to the idea of infinitesimal, which played a key role in the development of the calculus during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and which has undergone a revival in the later twentieth century.

Keywords: Continuum; Real number; Arithmetization; Infinitesimal; Constructive mathematics; Intuitionistic mathematics; Nonstandard analysis; Smooth infinitesimal analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-40846-5_76

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-40846-5_76

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