[Doctor Stochastic]

I think it was Cauchy who introduced limits. Weierstrass was more into the arithmetization of analysis.

Note that projective geometry treats infinity as an ordinary number (or at least the point at infinity is an ordinary point.)

[betty boop]

Note that projective geometry treats infinity as an ordinary number (or at least the point at infinity is an ordinary point.)

Doc, tell me truly: Do you think this is a reasonable assumption?

[stripes1776]

I think it was Cauchy who introduced limits. Weierstrass was more into the arithmetization of analysis.

The idea of a limit has been around awhile, but it wasn't sufficiently rigorous until Weierstass. Newton sometimes thought of the calculus he invented as a limit (intuitive and nonrigorous), sometimes as infinitesimals, and sometimes as velocity (he invented it to answer questions in physics). Cauchy made a big improvement in the idea of a limit, but he still used infinitesimals to define it. It was Weierstauss who introduced the epsilon and delta condition as the definition of a limit, and using only real numbers. Weierstauss's approach is the one taught in calculus today.

And yes, Weierstauss is the father of modern analysis.