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- without limits; extremely large or great: an infinite number / variety The universe is theoretically infinite.
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a. : extending beyond, lying beyond, or being greater than any preassigned finite value however large. infinite number of positive numbers. b. : extending to infinity. infinite plane surface. c. : characterized by an infinite number of elements or terms. an infinite set.
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- Mathematical infinities
infinity, the concept of something that is unlimited, endless, without bound. The common symbol for infinity, ∞, was invented by the English mathematician John Wallis in 1655. Three main types of infinity may be distinguished: the mathematical, the physical, and the metaphysical. Mathematical infinities occur, for instance, as the number of points ...
The ancient Greeks expressed infinity by the word apeiron, which had connotations of being unbounded, indefinite, undefined, and formless. One of the earliest appearances of infinity in mathematics regards the ratio between the diagonal and the side of a square. Pythagoras (c. 580–500 bce) and his followers initially believed that any aspect of the world could be expressed by an arrangement involving just the whole numbers (0, 1, 2, 3,…), but they were surprised to discover that the diagonal and the side of a square are incommensurable—that is, their lengths cannot both be expressed as whole-number multiples of any shared unit (or measuring stick). In modern mathematics this discovery is expressed by saying that the ratio is irrational and that it is the limit of an endless, nonrepeating decimal series. In the case of a square with sides of length 1, the diagonal is Square root of√2, written as 1.414213562…, where the ellipsis (…) indicates an endless sequence of digits with no pattern.
Both Plato (428/427–348/347 bce) and Aristotle (384–322 bce) shared the general Greek abhorrence of the notion of infinity. Aristotle influenced subsequent thought for more than a millennium with his rejection of “actual” infinity (spatial, temporal, or numerical), which he distinguished from the “potential” infinity of being able to count without end. To avoid the use of actual infinity, Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 400–350 bce) and Archimedes (c. 285–212/211 bce) developed a technique, later known as the method of exhaustion, whereby an area was calculated by halving the measuring unit at successive stages until the remaining area was below some fixed value (the remaining region having been “exhausted”).
The issue of infinitely small numbers led to the discovery of calculus in the late 1600s by the English mathematician Isaac Newton and the German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Newton introduced his own theory of infinitely small numbers, or infinitesimals, to justify the calculation of derivatives, or slopes. In order to find the slope (that is, the change in y over the change in x) for a line touching a curve at a given point (x, y), he found it useful to look at the ratio between dy and dx, where dy is an infinitesimal change in y produced by moving an infinitesimal amount dx from x. Infinitesimals were heavily criticized, and much of the early history of analysis revolved around efforts to find an alternate, rigorous foundation for the subject. The use of infinitesimal numbers finally gained a firm footing with the development of nonstandard analysis by the German-born mathematician Abraham Robinson in the 1960s.
A more direct use of infinity in mathematics arises with efforts to compare the sizes of infinite sets, such as the set of points on a line (real numbers) or the set of counting numbers. Mathematicians are quickly struck by the fact that ordinary intuitions about numbers are misleading when talking about infinite sizes. Medieval thinkers were aware of the paradoxical fact that line segments of varying lengths seemed to have the same number of points. For instance, draw two concentric circles, one twice the radius (and thus twice the circumference) of the other, as shown in the figure. Surprisingly, each point P on the outer circle can be paired with a unique point P′ on the inner circle by drawing a line from their common centre O to P and labeling its intersection with the inner circle P′. Intuition suggests that the outer circle should have twice as many points as the inner circle, but in this case infinity seems to be the same as twice infinity. In the early 1600s, the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei addressed this and a similar nonintuitive result now known as Galileo’s paradox. Galileo demonstrated that the set of counting numbers could be put in a one-to-one correspondence with the apparently much smaller set of their squares. He similarly showed that the set of counting numbers and their doubles (i.e., the set of even numbers) could be paired up. Galileo concluded that “we cannot speak of infinite quantities as being the one greater or less than or equal to another.” Such examples led the German mathematician Richard Dedekind in 1872 to suggest a definition of an infinite set as one that could be put in a one-to-one relationship with some proper subset.
The confusion about infinite numbers was resolved by the German mathematician Georg Cantor beginning in 1873. First Cantor rigorously demonstrated that the set of rational numbers (fractions) is the same size as the counting numbers; hence, they are called countable, or denumerable. Of course this came as no real shock, but later that same year Cantor proved the surprising result that not all infinities are equal. Using a so-called “diagonal argument,” Cantor showed that the size of the counting numbers is strictly less than the size of the real numbers. This result is known as Cantor’s theorem.
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Apr 29, 2021 · Infinity. Infinity is a big topic. Most people have some conception of things that have no bound, no boundary, no limit, no end. The rigorous study of infinity began in mathematics and philosophy, but the engagement with infinity traverses the history of cosmology, astronomy, physics, and theology.
Infinity is something which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is often denoted by the infinity symbol . Since the time of the ancient Greeks, the philosophical nature of infinity has been the subject of many discussions among philosophers.
Looking back over the last 2,500 years of use of the term “infinite,” three distinct senses stand out: actually infinite, potentially infinite, and transcendentally infinite. These will be discussed in more detail below, but briefly, the concept of potential infinity treats infinity as an unbounded or non-terminating process developing over ...
us / ˈɪn.fə.nət / uk / ˈɪn.fɪ.nət / Add to word list. C2. without limits; extremely large or great: an infinite number / variety. The universe is theoretically infinite. infinite patience With infinite patience, she explained the complex procedure to us. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases. Unlimited. blank check. bottomless pit.
Infinity (philosophy) In philosophy and theology, infinity is explored in articles under headings such as the Absolute, God, and Zeno's paradoxes . In Greek philosophy, for example in Anaximander, 'the Boundless' is the origin of all that is. He took the beginning or first principle to be an endless, unlimited primordial mass (ἄπειρον ...
