The Joys of Mathematics by Peter Boyle
At fifty I will begin my count towards the infinite numbers.
At negative ninety nine I will start my walk towards the
infinitesimally small.
Showing posts with label transfinite. Show all posts
Showing posts with label transfinite. Show all posts
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Friday, September 24, 2010
Reflections on the Transfinite
Georg Cantor (1845-1918), a German mathematician, first dared to think the counter-intuitive notion that not all infinite sets have the same size--and then he proved it: The set of all real numbers (including all of the decimal numbers representable on the number line) cannot be matched in a one-to-one pairing with the set of counting (or natural) numbers -- 1,2,3,4, . . . . Sets whose elements can be matched one-to-one with the counting numbers are termed "countable" -- and Cantor's result showed that the set of all real numbers is uncountable.
Cantor developed an extensive theory of transfinite numbers -- and poet (as well as philosopher and professor) Emily Grosholz reflects on these in a poem:
Cantor developed an extensive theory of transfinite numbers -- and poet (as well as philosopher and professor) Emily Grosholz reflects on these in a poem:
Saturday, July 24, 2010
The infinitude of ecstacy -- a la Israel Lewis
Israel Lewis is the pen name of a polymath who earned his living as a scientist and is a writer in his retirement. His webpage offers a variety of his creations--many of them permeated with mathematics.
Labels:
Aleph Null,
ecstacy,
Georg Cantor,
infinite,
infinities,
infinitude,
Israel Lewis,
one,
transfinite,
zero
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