3 ms·
> i've stumbled a few years ago on a math book that described the original concept of "infinitesimals" and how a whole different way of doing calculus exists.
by Qem 3y ago
> i've stumbled a few years ago on a math book that described the original concept of "infinitesimals" and how a whole different way of doing calculus exists.
Was this book "Elementary Calculus: An Infinitesimal Approach", by Keisler? It's an awesome book. It's free to download at https://people.math.wisc.edu/~hkeisler/calc.html https://people.math.wisc.edu/~hkeisler/calc.html
- bsaul 3y agoyes that's the one. I didn't read or understand all of it, but it helped me a lot realize what i considered as weird (the dx object and the whole notation around derivative) was not due to comprehension problems on my part, but due to the fact that the field was still a work in progress. Unfortunately, that realization came 25 years too late.