Hello, Math Students and all interested parties -

Please join us for the weekly Mathematics Colloquium: "In Search Of ... Infinitesimals" with Dr. Walden Freedman, HSU Mathematics Department, Humboldt State University.

The Calculus of Newton and Leibniz was based on infinitesimals, quantities considered smaller in magnitude than any positive real number.  Although intuitive and used successfully in computations, infinitesimals were viewed with suspicion and eventually rejected as a basis for the calculus.  They were replaced by the ε-δ notion of the limit and relegated to history.  Then in the 1960’s, Abraham Robinson used Mathematical Logic to resurrect infinitesimals in Nonstandard Analysis.  We survey the history and uses of infinitesimals, focusing mainly on the 17th and 20th centuries.


Don't forget coffee, tea and goodies at the Pre-Colloquium Tea at 3:30 in the 3rd Floor Open Area in the BSS building.