Template:Short description In abstract algebra, the superreal numbers are a class of extensions of the real numbers, introduced by H. Garth Dales and W. Hugh Woodin as a generalization of the hyperreal numbers and primarily of interest in non-standard analysis, model theory, and the study of Banach algebras. The field of superreals is itself a subfield of the surreal numbers.
Dales and Woodin's superreals are distinct from the super-real numbers of David O. Tall, which are lexicographically ordered fractions of formal power series over the reals.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
Formal definitionEdit
Suppose X is a Tychonoff space and C(X) is the algebra of continuous real-valued functions on X. Suppose P is a prime ideal in C(X). Then the factor algebra A = C(X)/P is by definition an integral domain that is a real algebra and that can be seen to be totally ordered. The field of fractions F of A is a superreal field if F strictly contains the real numbers <math>\R</math>, so that F is not order isomorphic to <math>\R</math>.
If the prime ideal P is a maximal ideal, then F is a field of hyperreal numbers (Robinson's hyperreals being a very special case).Template:Citation needed
ReferencesEdit
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