gsmith@garnet.berkeley.edu (Gene W. Smith) (11/21/88)
In article <1919@garth.UUCP>, smryan@garth (Steven Ryan) writes: >Just a short note that is a mortal sin for a mathematician to say >`inf***ty.' Penance usually is usually five Hail Davids. Nonsense. "F(x) as x --> +infinity" is the sort of thing everyone learns in Calculus, which shows that even Freshmen can understand what it means. >The word `infinite' only occurs before `set,' `infinite set,' where it has >a very precise meaning. More nonsense. "Let p be an infinite prime number in a nonstandard model of arithmetic", "consider now the place at infinity", "the proof follows the method of infinite decent", "consider the infinite product prod_{p \in P} (1 - p^{-s})", all taken from number theory alone. >The correct term is `arbitrary.' As in "by arbitrary fiat, Ryan attempted to tell mathematicians how they could use the word, 'infinite'". Alas, they all laughed. Beat it. -- ucbvax!garnet!gsmith Gene Ward Smith/Brahmsgangster/Berkeley CA 94720 "Your notation sucks!" Serge Lang