Roads to Infinity: The Mathematics of Truth and Proof

Roads to Infinity: The Mathematics of Truth and Proof
ISBN-10
1439865507
ISBN-13
9781439865507
Category
Mathematics
Pages
250
Language
English
Published
2010-07-13
Publisher
CRC Press
Author
John Stillwell

Description

Winner of a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award for 2011! This book offers an introduction to modern ideas about infinity and their implications for mathematics. It unifies ideas from set theory and mathematical logic, and traces their effects on mainstream mathematical topics of today, such as number theory and combinatorics. The treatment is historical and partly informal, but with due attention to the subtleties of the subject. Ideas are shown to evolve from natural mathematical questions about the nature of infinity and the nature of proof, set against a background of broader questions and developments in mathematics. A particular aim of the book is to acknowledge some important but neglected figures in the history of infinity, such as Post and Gentzen, alongside the recognized giants Cantor and Gödel.

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