(Inspired by Reddit post of the last month)

  • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    ACKTUALLY neither. It’s most simply thought of as a limit of progressively longer sums. Infinitesimals help people understand but they’re kind of logically questionable.

    • nLuLukna @sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Actually that last point isn’t quite right, in the 1960s Robinson proved that the set of hyperreals were logically consistent if and only if the reals were.

      This put to rest the age-long speculation that the hyperreals were questionable.

      This speculation is a pain in the ass since it means that we primarily use limits when talking about this sort of thing.

      Which is fine, but infinitesimals are the coolest shit ever