English

Taking physical infinity seriously

History and Philosophy of Physics 2016-08-25 v1

Abstract

The concept of infinity took centuries to achieve recognized status in the field of mathematics, despite the fact that it was implicitly present in nearly all mathematical endeavors. Here I explore the idea that a similar development might be warranted in physics. Several threads will be speculatively examined, including some involving nonstandard analysis. While there are intriguing possibilities, there also are noteworthy difficulties.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1608.06878,
  title  = {Taking physical infinity seriously},
  author = {Don Perlis},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1608.06878},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

to appear in book dedicated to Martin Davis

R2 v1 2026-06-22T15:29:32.139Z