Real Numbers, Generalizations of the Reals, and Theories of Continua

Since their appearance in the late 19th century, the Cantor--Dedekind theory of real numbers and philosophy of the continuum have emerged as pillars of standard mathematical philosophy. On the other hand, this period also witnessed the emergence of a vari

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SYNTHESE LIBRARY STUDIES IN EPISTEMOLOGY, LOGIC, METHODOLOGY, AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

Managing Editor: JAAKKO HINTIKKA, Boston University

Editors: DIRK VAN DALEN, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands DONALD DAVIDSON, University of California, Berkeley THEO A.F. KUIPERS, University ofGroningen, The Netherlands PATRICK SUPPES, Stanford University, California JAN WOLENSKI, Jagiellonian University, Krak6w, Poland

VOLUME 242

REAL NUMBERS, GENERALIZATIONS OF THE REALS, AND THEORIES OF CONTINUA Edited by

PHILIP EHRLICH Ohio University

Springer-Science+Business Media, B. V.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Real numbers, general lzatlons of the reals, and theorles of contlnua I edited by Phl11p Ehrlich. p. c •. -- (Synthese l1brary ; v, 242) Includes index. 1. Numbers, Real. Ir. Serles.

2. Continuum hypothesis.

1. Ehrlich, Phillp.

OA241.R34 1994 512' .7--dc20

93-47519

ISBN 978-90-481-4362-7 ISBN 978-94-015-8248-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1 007/978-94-015-8248-3

All Rights Reserved © 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1994. Softcover reprint of the hardcover I st edition 1994 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the copyright owner.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PHILIP EHRLICH / PART I.

General Introduction

vii

THE CANTOR-DEDEKIND PHILOSOPHY AND ITS EARLY RECEPTION

On the Infinite and the Infinitesimal in Mathematical Analysis (Presidential Address to the London Mathematical Society, November 13, 1902)

E. W. HOBSON /

PART II.

3

ALTERNATIVE THEORIES OF REAL NUMBERS

DOUGLAS S. BRIDGES /

Number Line

J. H. CONWAY /

A Constructive Look at the Real

The Surreals and Reals

29 93

PART III. EXTENSIONS AND GENERALIZATIONS OF THE ORDERED FIELD OF REALS: THE LATE 19TH-CENTURY GEOMETRICAL MOTIVATION GORDON FISHER /

Continuum

Veronese's Non-Archimedean Linear

Review of Hilbert's Foundations of Geometry (1902): Translated for the American Mathematical Society by E. V. Huntington (1903) GIUSEPPE VERONESE / On Non-Archimedean Geometry. Invited Address to the 4th International Congress of Mathematicians, Rome, April 1908. Translated by Mathieu Marion (with editorial notes by Philip Ehrlich) HENRI POINCARE /

PART IV.

107 147

169

EXTENSIONS AND GENERALIZATIONS OF THE REALS: SOME 20TH-CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS

HOUR Y A SIN ACEUR /

Calculation, Order and Continuity v

191

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

H. JEROME KEISLER / The Hyperreal Line PHILIP EHRLICH / All Numbers Great and Small DIETER KLAUA / Rational and Real Ordinal Numbers

207 239 259

INDEX OF NAMES

277

PHILIP EHRLICH

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

The geometers of ancient Greece regarded number as a "multitude composed of units" (Euclid, p. 277) and, believing that one was not itself a number, but rather the unit or source of number, tended to identify the numbers with the posit