Related papers: Weyl and intuitionistic infinitesimals
This is a survey of several approaches to the framework for working with infinitesimals and infinite numbers, originally developed by Abraham Robinson in the 1960s, and their constructive engagement with the Cantor-Dedekind postulate and…
We examine the classical/intuitionist divide, and how it reflects on modern theories of infinitesimals. When leading intuitionist Heyting announced that "the creation of non-standard analysis is a standard model of important mathematical…
Abraham Robinson's framework for modern infinitesimals was developed half a century ago. It enables a re-evaluation of the procedures of the pioneers of mathematical analysis. Their procedures have been often viewed through the lens of the…
Leibniz entertained various conceptions of infinitesimals, considering them sometimes as ideal things and other times as fictions. But in both cases, he compares infinitesimals favorably to imaginary roots. We agree with the majority of…
Weyl proposed a schema for symbolic construction of scientific representation starting from subjective immediate experience, and moving toward the objective ordered manifolds of possibilities due to "rational motives" of comprehending the…
This paper aims to build a new understanding of the nonstandard mathematical analysis. The main contribution of this paper is the construction of a new set of numbers, $\mathbb{R}^{\mathbb{Z}_< }$, which includes infinities and…
We explore the issue of providing a foundational framework for Leibnizian infinitesimals in the light of modern standard and nonstandard approaches. We outline a trichotomy of ordinals, cardinals and ringinals as a historiographic tool. A…
A refinement of the classic equivalence relation among Cauchy sequences yields a useful infinitesimal-enriched number system. Such an approach can be seen as formalizing Cauchy's sentiment that a null sequence "becomes" an infinitesimal. We…
Many historians of the calculus deny significant continuity between infinitesimal calculus of the 17th century and 20th century developments such as Robinson's theory. Robinson's hyperreals, while providing a consistent theory of…
Felix Klein and Abraham Fraenkel each formulated a criterion for a theory of infinitesimals to be successful, in terms of the feasibility of implementation of the Mean Value Theorem. We explore the evolution of the idea over the past…
We develop a new semantics for defeasible inference based on extended probability measures allowed to take infinitesimal values, on the interpretation of defaults as generalized conditional probability constraints and on a preferred-model…
The first seeds of mathematical intuitionism germinated in Europe over a century ago in the constructive tendencies of Borel, Baire, Lebesque, Poincar\'e, Kronecker and others. The flowering was the work of one man, Luitzen Egbertus Jan…
We discuss the position of intuitionistic mathematics within the field of constructive mathematics. We discuss some principles defended and used by Brouwer but rejected by Bishop, like the Coninuity Principle, the Fan Theorem and the Bar…
In the early phase of general relativity Elie Cartan and Hermann Weyl thought about the question of how the role of transformation groups could be transferred from classical geometry (Erlangen program) to differential geometry. They had…
In teaching infinitesimal calculus we sought to present basic concepts like continuity and convergence by comparing and contrasting various definitions, rather than presenting "the definition" to the students as a monolithic absolute. We…
Any Riemannian manifold has a canonical collection of valuations (finitely additive measures) attached to it, known as the intrinsic volumes or Lipschitz-Killing valuations. They date back to the remarkable discovery of H. Weyl that the…
Ideas from deformation quantization are applied to deform the expression of elements of an algebra. Extending these ideas to certain transcendental elements implies that $\frac{1}{i\h}uv$ in the Weyl algebra is naturally viewed as an…
Infinitesimals are natural products of the human imagination. Their history goes back to the Greek antiquity. Their role in the calculus and analysis has seen dramatic ups and downs. They have stimulated strong opinions and even vitriol.…
This paper asks what Brouwer might have replied to Dummett's interpretation of intuitionism. Complementing earlier literature, it treats Dummett's rejection of the ontological approach; the charge of psychologism and solipsism; indefinite…
We discuss the repercussions of the development of infinitesimal calculus into modern analysis, beginning with viewpoints expressed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and relating them to the natural cognitive development of…