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Paradoxes of Infinity
Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World
Fayyazuddin, Ansar http://www.solidarity-us.org/node/5087
Publisher: Against the Current
Date Written: 01/09/2017
Year Published: 2017
Resource Type: Article
Book review of Amir Alexander's Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World.
Abstract:
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Excerpt:
This is an idiosyncratic book driven by its two-part thesis. The first part is devoted to showing that the Jesuit brotherhood hindered the development of the precursor of the calculus and ultimately thwarted the development of mathematics in Italy until, I presume, the Risorgimento (Italy's 19th century unification).
The second part concerns England in the course and aftermath of the English revolution and focuses on debates between Thomas Hobbes and John Wallis. The triumph of Wallis and the mathematics of infinitesimals ("infinitely small" quantities in intuitive calculus) is argued to be central to the flourishing of mathematics and democracy in England.
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