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  1. Almost Equal: The Method of Adequality from Diophantus to Fermat and Beyond.Mikhail G. Katz, David M. Schaps & Steven Shnider - 2013 - Perspectives on Science 21 (3):283-324.
    Adequality, or παρισóτης (parisotēs) in the original Greek of Diophantus 1 , is a crucial step in Fermat’s method of finding maxima, minima, tangents, and solving other problems that a modern mathematician would solve using infinitesimal calculus. The method is presented in a series of short articles in Fermat’s collected works (1891, pp. 133–172). The first article, Methodus ad Disquirendam Maximam et Minimam 2 , opens with a summary of an algorithm for finding the maximum or minimum value of an (...)
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  • Tools, Objects, and Chimeras: Connes on the Role of Hyperreals in Mathematics.Vladimir Kanovei, Mikhail G. Katz & Thomas Mormann - 2013 - Foundations of Science 18 (2):259-296.
    We examine some of Connes’ criticisms of Robinson’s infinitesimals starting in 1995. Connes sought to exploit the Solovay model S as ammunition against non-standard analysis, but the model tends to boomerang, undercutting Connes’ own earlier work in functional analysis. Connes described the hyperreals as both a “virtual theory” and a “chimera”, yet acknowledged that his argument relies on the transfer principle. We analyze Connes’ “dart-throwing” thought experiment, but reach an opposite conclusion. In S , all definable sets of reals are (...)
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  • A Cauchy-Dirac Delta Function.Mikhail G. Katz & David Tall - 2013 - Foundations of Science 18 (1):107-123.
    The Dirac δ function has solid roots in nineteenth century work in Fourier analysis and singular integrals by Cauchy and others, anticipating Dirac’s discovery by over a century, and illuminating the nature of Cauchy’s infinitesimals and his infinitesimal definition of δ.
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  • Leibniz’s Infinitesimals: Their Fictionality, Their Modern Implementations, and Their Foes from Berkeley to Russell and Beyond. [REVIEW]Mikhail G. Katz & David Sherry - 2013 - Erkenntnis 78 (3):571-625.
    Many historians of the calculus deny significant continuity between infinitesimal calculus of the seventeenth century and twentieth century developments such as Robinson’s theory. Robinson’s hyperreals, while providing a consistent theory of infinitesimals, require the resources of modern logic; thus many commentators are comfortable denying a historical continuity. A notable exception is Robinson himself, whose identification with the Leibnizian tradition inspired Lakatos, Laugwitz, and others to consider the history of the infinitesimal in a more favorable light. Inspite of his Leibnizian sympathies, (...)
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  • Who Gave You the Cauchy–Weierstrass Tale? The Dual History of Rigorous Calculus.Alexandre Borovik & Mikhail G. Katz - 2012 - Foundations of Science 17 (3):245-276.
    Cauchy’s contribution to the foundations of analysis is often viewed through the lens of developments that occurred some decades later, namely the formalisation of analysis on the basis of the epsilon-delta doctrine in the context of an Archimedean continuum. What does one see if one refrains from viewing Cauchy as if he had read Weierstrass already? One sees, with Felix Klein, a parallel thread for the development of analysis, in the context of an infinitesimal-enriched continuum. One sees, with Emile Borel, (...)
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  • Stevin Numbers and Reality.Karin Usadi Katz & Mikhail G. Katz - 2012 - Foundations of Science 17 (2):109-123.
    We explore the potential of Simon Stevin’s numbers, obscured by shifting foundational biases and by 19th century developments in the arithmetisation of analysis.
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  • Is Leibnizian calculus embeddable in first order logic?Piotr Błaszczyk, Vladimir Kanovei, Karin U. Katz, Mikhail G. Katz, Taras Kudryk, Thomas Mormann & David Sherry - 2017 - Foundations of Science 22 (4):73 - 88.
    To explore the extent of embeddability of Leibnizian infinitesimal calculus in first-order logic (FOL) and modern frameworks, we propose to set aside ontological issues and focus on pro- cedural questions. This would enable an account of Leibnizian procedures in a framework limited to FOL with a small number of additional ingredients such as the relation of infinite proximity. If, as we argue here, first order logic is indeed suitable for developing modern proxies for the inferential moves found in Leibnizian infinitesimal (...)
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  • The Mathematical Intelligencer Flunks the Olympics.Alexander E. Gutman, Mikhail G. Katz, Taras S. Kudryk & Semen S. Kutateladze - 2017 - Foundations of Science 22 (3):539-555.
    The Mathematical Intelligencer recently published a note by Y. Sergeyev that challenges both mathematics and intelligence. We examine Sergeyev’s claims concerning his purported Infinity computer. We compare his grossone system with the classical Levi-Civita fields and with the hyperreal framework of A. Robinson, and analyze the related algorithmic issues inevitably arising in any genuine computer implementation. We show that Sergeyev’s grossone system is unnecessary and vague, and that whatever consistent subsystem could be salvaged is subsumed entirely within a stronger and (...)
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  • Fermat’s Dilemma: Why Did He Keep Mum on Infinitesimals? And the European Theological Context.Jacques Bair, Mikhail G. Katz & David Sherry - 2018 - Foundations of Science 23 (3):559-595.
    The first half of the 17th century was a time of intellectual ferment when wars of natural philosophy were echoes of religious wars, as we illustrate by a case study of an apparently innocuous mathematical technique called adequality pioneered by the honorable judge Pierre de Fermat, its relation to indivisibles, as well as to other hocus-pocus. André Weil noted that simple applications of adequality involving polynomials can be treated purely algebraically but more general problems like the cycloid curve cannot be (...)
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  • Proofs and Retributions, Or: Why Sarah Can’t Take Limits.Vladimir Kanovei, Karin U. Katz, Mikhail G. Katz & Mary Schaps - 2015 - Foundations of Science 20 (1):1-25.
    The small, the tiny, and the infinitesimal have been the object of both fascination and vilification for millenia. One of the most vitriolic reviews in mathematics was that written by Errett Bishop about Keisler’s book Elementary Calculus: an Infinitesimal Approach. In this skit we investigate both the argument itself, and some of its roots in Bishop George Berkeley’s criticism of Leibnizian and Newtonian Calculus. We also explore some of the consequences to students for whom the infinitesimal approach is congenial. The (...)
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  • A Non-Standard Analysis of a Cultural Icon: The Case of Paul Halmos.Piotr Błaszczyk, Alexandre Borovik, Vladimir Kanovei, Mikhail G. Katz, Taras Kudryk, Semen S. Kutateladze & David Sherry - 2016 - Logica Universalis 10 (4):393-405.
    We examine Paul Halmos’ comments on category theory, Dedekind cuts, devil worship, logic, and Robinson’s infinitesimals. Halmos’ scepticism about category theory derives from his philosophical position of naive set-theoretic realism. In the words of an MAA biography, Halmos thought that mathematics is “certainty” and “architecture” yet 20th century logic teaches us is that mathematics is full of uncertainty or more precisely incompleteness. If the term architecture meant to imply that mathematics is one great solid castle, then modern logic tends to (...)
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  • Toward a History of Mathematics Focused on Procedures.Piotr Błaszczyk, Vladimir Kanovei, Karin U. Katz, Mikhail G. Katz, Semen S. Kutateladze & David Sherry - 2017 - Foundations of Science 22 (4):763-783.
    Abraham Robinson’s framework for modern infinitesimals was developed half a century ago. It enables a re-evaluation of the procedures of the pioneers of mathematical analysis. Their procedures have been often viewed through the lens of the success of the Weierstrassian foundations. We propose a view without passing through the lens, by means of proxies for such procedures in the modern theory of infinitesimals. The real accomplishments of calculus and analysis had been based primarily on the elaboration of novel techniques for (...)
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  • Toward a Clarity of the Extreme Value Theorem.Karin U. Katz, Mikhail G. Katz & Taras Kudryk - 2014 - Logica Universalis 8 (2):193-214.
    We apply a framework developed by C. S. Peirce to analyze the concept of clarity, so as to examine a pair of rival mathematical approaches to a typical result in analysis. Namely, we compare an intuitionist and an infinitesimal approaches to the extreme value theorem. We argue that a given pre-mathematical phenomenon may have several aspects that are not necessarily captured by a single formalisation, pointing to a complementarity rather than a rivalry of the approaches.
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  • Controversies in the Foundations of Analysis: Comments on Schubring’s Conflicts.Piotr Błaszczyk, Vladimir Kanovei, Mikhail G. Katz & David Sherry - 2017 - Foundations of Science 22 (1):125-140.
    Foundations of Science recently published a rebuttal to a portion of our essay it published 2 years ago. The author, G. Schubring, argues that our 2013 text treated unfairly his 2005 book, Conflicts between generalization, rigor, and intuition. He further argues that our attempt to show that Cauchy is part of a long infinitesimalist tradition confuses text with context and thereby misunderstands the significance of Cauchy’s use of infinitesimals. Here we defend our original analysis of various misconceptions and misinterpretations concerning (...)
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  • Cauchy's Continuum.Karin U. Katz & Mikhail G. Katz - 2011 - Perspectives on Science 19 (4):426-452.
    One of the most influential scientific treatises in Cauchy's era was J.-L. Lagrange's Mécanique Analytique, the second edition of which came out in 1811, when Cauchy was barely out of his teens. Lagrange opens his treatise with an unequivocal endorsement of infinitesimals. Referring to the system of infinitesimal calculus, Lagrange writes:Lorsqu'on a bien conçu l'esprit de ce système, et qu'on s'est convaincu de l'exactitude de ses résultats par la méthode géométrique des premières et dernières raisons, ou par la méthode analytique (...)
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  • An Integer Construction of Infinitesimals: Toward a Theory of Eudoxus Hyperreals.Alexandre Borovik, Renling Jin & Mikhail G. Katz - 2012 - Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 53 (4):557-570.
    A construction of the real number system based on almost homomorphisms of the integers $\mathbb {Z}$ was proposed by Schanuel, Arthan, and others. We combine such a construction with the ultrapower or limit ultrapower construction to construct the hyperreals out of integers. In fact, any hyperreal field, whose universe is a set, can be obtained by such a one-step construction directly out of integers. Even the maximal (i.e., On -saturated) hyperreal number system described by Kanovei and Reeken (2004) and independently (...)
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  • Ten Misconceptions from the History of Analysis and Their Debunking.Piotr Błaszczyk, Mikhail G. Katz & David Sherry - 2013 - Foundations of Science 18 (1):43-74.
    The widespread idea that infinitesimals were “eliminated” by the “great triumvirate” of Cantor, Dedekind, and Weierstrass is refuted by an uninterrupted chain of work on infinitesimal-enriched number systems. The elimination claim is an oversimplification created by triumvirate followers, who tend to view the history of analysis as a pre-ordained march toward the radiant future of Weierstrassian epsilontics. In the present text, we document distortions of the history of analysis stemming from the triumvirate ideology of ontological minimalism, which identified the continuum (...)
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