Editing Infinitesimal

{{short description|Extremely small quantity in calculus; thing so small that there is no way to measure it}}
[[File:Números hiperreales.png|class=skin-invert-image|450px|thumb|Infinitesimals (ε) and infinities (ω) on the hyperreal number line (ε = 1/ω)]]

In [[mathematics]], an '''infinitesimal number''' is a non-zero quantity that is closer to [[0]] than any non-zero [[real number]] is. The word ''infinitesimal'' comes from a 17th-century [[Neo-Latin|Modern Latin]] coinage ''infinitesimus'', which originally referred to the "[[infinity]]-[[Ordinal number (linguistics)|th]]" item in a [[sequence]].

Infinitesimals do not exist in the standard real number system, but they do exist in other number systems, such as the [[surreal number|surreal number system]] and the [[hyperreal number|hyperreal number system]], which can be thought of as the real numbers augmented with both infinitesimal and infinite quantities; the augmentations are the [[Multiplicative inverse|reciprocal]]s of one another.

Infinitesimal numbers were introduced in the [[History of calculus|development of calculus]], in which the [[derivative]] was first conceived as a ratio of two infinitesimal quantities. This definition was not [[Rigour#Mathematical rigour|rigorously formalized]]. As calculus developed further, infinitesimals were replaced by [[limit (mathematics)|limit]]s, which can be calculated using the standard real numbers.

In the 3rd century BC [[Archimedes]] used what eventually came to be known as the [[method of indivisibles]] in his work ''[[The Method of Mechanical Theorems]]'' to find areas of regions and volumes of solids.<ref>{{Cite journal  | last1 = Netz | first1 = Reviel | author1-link = Reviel Netz | last2 = Saito | first2 = Ken | last3 = Tchernetska | first3 = Natalie | date = 2001 | title = A New Reading of Method Proposition 14: Preliminary Evidence from the Archimedes Palimpsest (Part 1) | journal = Sciamvs | volume = 2 | pages = 9–29 }}</ref> In his formal published treatises, Archimedes solved the same problem using the [[method of exhaustion]].

Infinitesimals regained popularity in the 20th century with [[Abraham Robinson]]'s development of [[nonstandard analysis]] and the [[hyperreal numbers]], which, after centuries of controversy, showed that a formal treatment of infinitesimal calculus was possible. Following this, mathematicians developed surreal numbers, a related formalization of infinite and infinitesimal numbers that include both hyperreal [[cardinal number|cardinal]] and [[ordinal number]]s, which is the largest [[ordered field]].

[[Vladimir Arnold]] wrote in 1990:

{{quote|Nowadays, when teaching analysis, it is not very popular to talk about infinitesimal quantities. Consequently, present-day students are not fully in command of this language. Nevertheless, it is still necessary to have command of it.<ref>Arnolʹd, V. I. ''Huygens and Barrow, Newton and Hooke. Pioneers in mathematical analysis and catastrophe theory from evolvents to quasicrystals''. Translated from the Russian by Eric J. F. Primrose. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, 1990. p.&nbsp;27</ref>}}

The crucial insight{{whose|date=October 2021}} for making infinitesimals feasible mathematical entities was that they could still retain certain properties such as [[angle]] or [[slope]], even if these entities were infinitely small.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/continuity/#1 | title = Continuity and Infinitesimals | last = Bell | first = John L. | date = 6 September 2013 | website = [[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]}}</ref>

Infinitesimals are a basic ingredient in [[calculus]] as developed by [[Gottfried Leibniz|Leibniz]], including the [[law of continuity]] and the [[transcendental law of homogeneity]]. In common speech, an infinitesimal object is an object that is smaller than any feasible measurement, but not zero in size—or, so small that it cannot be distinguished from zero by any available means. Hence, when used as an adjective in mathematics, ''infinitesimal'' means infinitely small, smaller than any standard real number. Infinitesimals are often compared to other infinitesimals of similar size, as in examining the derivative of a function. An infinite number of infinitesimals are summed to calculate an [[integral]].

The modern concept of infinitesimals was introduced around 1670 by either [[Nicolaus Mercator]] or [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz]].<ref>{{citation
 | last1   = Katz   | first1 = Mikhail G. | author1-link=Mikhail Katz
 | last2   = Sherry | first2 = David
 | title   = Leibniz's Infinitesimals: Their Fictionality, Their Modern Implementations, and Their Foes from Berkeley to Russell and Beyond
 | journal = [[Erkenntnis]]
 | volume  = 78 | issue = 3 | pages = 571–625 | year = 2012
 | arxiv   = 1205.0174 | doi = 10.1007/s10670-012-9370-y
| s2cid = 119329569 }}</ref> The 15th century saw the work of [[Nicholas of Cusa]], further developed in the 17th century by [[Johannes Kepler]], in particular, the calculation of the area of a circle by representing the latter as an infinite-sided polygon. [[Simon Stevin]]'s work on the decimal representation of all numbers in the 16th century prepared the ground for the real continuum. [[Bonaventura Cavalieri]]'s method of indivisibles led to an extension of the results of the classical authors. The method of indivisibles related to geometrical figures as being composed of entities of [[codimension]] 1.{{clarify|date=June 2021}} [[John Wallis]]'s infinitesimals differed from indivisibles in that he would decompose geometrical figures into infinitely thin building blocks of the same dimension as the figure, preparing the ground for general methods of the integral calculus. He exploited an infinitesimal denoted [[1/∞]] in area calculations.

The use of infinitesimals by Leibniz relied upon heuristic principles, such as the law of continuity: what succeeds for the finite numbers succeeds also for the infinite numbers and vice versa; and the transcendental law of homogeneity that specifies procedures for replacing expressions involving unassignable quantities, by expressions involving only assignable ones. The 18th century saw routine use of infinitesimals by mathematicians such as [[Leonhard Euler]] and [[Joseph-Louis Lagrange]]. [[Augustin-Louis Cauchy]] exploited infinitesimals both in defining [[continuous function|continuity]] in his ''[[Cours d'Analyse]]'', and in defining an early form of a [[Dirac delta function]]. As Cantor and [[Richard Dedekind|Dedekind]] were developing more abstract versions of Stevin's continuum, [[Paul du Bois-Reymond]] wrote a series of papers on infinitesimal-enriched continua based on growth rates of functions. Du Bois-Reymond's work inspired both [[Émile Borel]] and [[Thoralf Skolem]]. Borel explicitly linked du Bois-Reymond's work to Cauchy's work on rates of growth of infinitesimals. Skolem developed the first non-standard models of arithmetic in 1934. A mathematical implementation of both the law of continuity and infinitesimals was achieved by [[Abraham Robinson]] in 1961, who developed [[nonstandard analysis]] based on earlier work by [[Edwin Hewitt]] in 1948 and [[Jerzy Łoś]] in 1955. The [[hyperreal number|hyperreals]] implement an infinitesimal-enriched continuum and the [[transfer principle]] implements Leibniz's law of continuity. The [[standard part function]] implements Fermat's [[adequality]].

== History of the infinitesimal ==
The notion of infinitely small quantities was discussed by the [[Eleatic School]]. The [[Greek mathematics|Greek]] mathematician [[Archimedes]] (c.&nbsp;287&nbsp;BC – c.&nbsp;212&nbsp;BC), in ''[[The Method of Mechanical Theorems]]'', was the first to propose a logically rigorous definition of infinitesimals.<ref>Archimedes, ''The Method of Mechanical Theorems''; see [[Archimedes Palimpsest]]</ref> His [[Archimedean property]] defines a number ''x'' as infinite if it satisfies the conditions {{nowrap|{{abs|''x''}} > 1,}} {{nowrap|{{abs|''x''}} > 1 + 1,}} {{nowrap|{{abs|''x''}} > 1 + 1 + 1,}} ..., and infinitesimal if {{nowrap|''x'' ≠ 0}} and a similar set of conditions holds for ''x'' and the reciprocals of the positive integers. A number system is said to be Archimedean if it contains no infinite or infinitesimal members.

The English mathematician [[John Wallis]] introduced the expression 1/∞ in his 1655 book ''Treatise on the Conic Sections''. The symbol, which denotes the reciprocal, or inverse, of&nbsp;[[∞]], is the symbolic representation of the mathematical concept of an infinitesimal. In his ''Treatise on the Conic Sections'', Wallis also discusses the concept of a relationship between the symbolic representation of infinitesimal 1/∞ that he introduced and the concept of infinity for which he introduced the symbol&nbsp;∞. The concept suggests a [[thought experiment]] of adding an infinite number of [[parallelogram]]s of infinitesimal width to form a finite area. This concept was the predecessor to the modern method of integration used in [[integral calculus]]. The conceptual origins of the concept of the infinitesimal 1/∞ can be traced as far back as the Greek philosopher [[Zeno of Elea]], whose [[Zeno's dichotomy paradox]] was the first mathematical concept to consider the relationship between a finite interval and an interval approaching that of an infinitesimal-sized interval.

Infinitesimals were the subject of political and religious controversies in 17th century Europe, including a ban on infinitesimals issued by clerics in Rome in 1632.<ref>{{cite book|title=Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World|last=Alexander|first=Amir|publisher=Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux|year=2014|isbn=978-0-374-17681-5|author-link=Amir Alexander}}</ref>

Prior to the invention of calculus mathematicians were able to calculate tangent lines using [[Pierre de Fermat]]'s method of [[adequality]] and [[René Descartes]]' [[method of normals]]. There is debate among scholars as to whether the method was infinitesimal or algebraic in nature. When [[Isaac Newton|Newton]] and [[Gottfried Leibniz|Leibniz]] invented the [[Infinitesimal calculus|calculus]], they made use of infinitesimals, Newton's ''[[fluxion (mathematics)|fluxions]]'' and Leibniz' ''[[differential (infinitesimal)|differential]]''. The use of infinitesimals was attacked as incorrect by [[George Berkeley|Bishop Berkeley]] in his work ''[[The Analyst]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/theanalystoradis00berkuoft/page/n4|title=The Analyst: A Discourse Addressed to an Infidel Mathematician.|last=Berkeley|first=George|year=1734|location=London|author-link=George Berkeley}}</ref> Mathematicians, scientists, and engineers continued to use infinitesimals to produce correct results. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the calculus was reformulated by [[Augustin-Louis Cauchy]], [[Bernard Bolzano]], [[Karl Weierstrass]], [[Georg Cantor|Cantor]], [[Richard Dedekind|Dedekind]], and others using the [[(ε, δ)-definition of limit]] and [[set theory]].
While the followers of Cantor, Dedekind, and Weierstrass sought to rid analysis of infinitesimals, and their philosophical allies like [[Bertrand Russell]] and [[Rudolf Carnap]] declared that infinitesimals are ''pseudoconcepts'', [[Hermann Cohen]] and his [[Marburg school]] of [[neo-Kantianism]] sought to develop a working logic of infinitesimals.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Mormann|first1=Thomas|author-link=Thomas Mormann|last2=Katz|first2=Mikhail|author-link2=Mikhail Katz|date=Fall 2013|title=Infinitesimals as an Issue of Neo-Kantian Philosophy of Science|journal=[[HOPOS|HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science]]|volume=3|issue=2|pages=236–280|arxiv=1304.1027|doi=10.1086/671348|jstor=10.1086/671348|s2cid=119128707}}</ref> The mathematical study of systems containing infinitesimals continued through the work of [[Tullio Levi-Civita|Levi-Civita]], [[Giuseppe Veronese]], [[Paul du Bois-Reymond]], and others, throughout the late nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, as documented by Philip Ehrlich (2006). In the 20th century, it was found that infinitesimals could serve as a basis for calculus and analysis (see [[hyperreal number]]s).

== First-order properties ==
In extending the real numbers to include infinite and infinitesimal quantities, one typically wishes to be as conservative as possible by not changing any of their elementary properties. This guarantees that as many familiar results as possible are still available. Typically, ''elementary'' means that there is no [[quantification (logic)|quantification]] over [[set (mathematics)|sets]], but only over elements. This limitation allows statements of the form "for any number x..." For example, the axiom that states "for any number&nbsp;''x'', ''x''&nbsp;+&nbsp;0&nbsp;=&nbsp;''x''" would still apply. The same is true for quantification over several numbers, e.g., "for any numbers&nbsp;''x'' and ''y'', ''xy''&nbsp;=&nbsp;''yx''." However, statements of the form "for any ''set''&nbsp;''S''&nbsp;of numbers&nbsp;..." may not carry over. Logic with this limitation on quantification is referred to as [[first-order logic]].

The resulting extended number system cannot agree with the reals on all properties that can be expressed by quantification over sets, because the goal is to construct a non-Archimedean system, and the Archimedean principle can be expressed by quantification over sets. One can conservatively extend any theory including reals, including set theory, to include infinitesimals, just by adding a countably infinite list of axioms that assert that a number is smaller than 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, and so on. Similarly, the [[Complete metric space|completeness]] property cannot be expected to carry over, because the reals are the unique complete ordered field up to isomorphism.

We can distinguish three levels at which a non-Archimedean number system could have first-order properties compatible with those of the reals:

# An [[ordered field]] obeys all the usual axioms of the real number system that can be stated in first-order logic. For example, the [[commutativity]] axiom ''x''&nbsp;+&nbsp;''y''&nbsp;=&nbsp;''y''&nbsp;+&nbsp;''x'' holds.
# A [[real closed field]] has all the first-order properties of the real number system, regardless of whether they are usually taken as axiomatic, for statements involving the basic ordered-field relations +,&nbsp;×, and&nbsp;≤. This is a stronger condition than obeying the ordered-field axioms. More specifically, one includes additional first-order properties, such as the existence of a root for every odd-degree polynomial. For example, every number must have a [[cube root]].
# The system could have all the first-order properties of the real number system for statements involving ''any'' relations (regardless of whether those relations can be expressed using&nbsp;+,&nbsp;×, and&nbsp;≤). For example, there would have to be a [[sine]] function that is well defined for infinite inputs; the same is true for every real function.

Systems in category 1, at the weak end of the spectrum, are relatively easy to construct but do not allow a full treatment of classical analysis using infinitesimals in the spirit of Newton and Leibniz. For example, the [[transcendental functions]] are defined in terms of infinite limiting processes, and therefore there is typically no way to define them in first-order logic. Increasing the analytic strength of the system by passing to categories&nbsp;2 and&nbsp;3, we find that the flavor of the treatment tends to become less constructive, and it becomes more difficult to say anything concrete about the hierarchical structure of infinities and infinitesimals.

== Number systems that include infinitesimals ==

=== Formal series ===

==== Laurent series ====
An example from category 1 above is the field of [[Laurent series]] with a finite number of negative-power terms. For example, the Laurent series consisting only of the constant term 1 is identified with the real number&nbsp;1, and the series with only the linear term&nbsp;''x'' is thought of as the simplest infinitesimal, from which the other infinitesimals are constructed. Dictionary ordering is used, which is equivalent to considering higher powers of&nbsp;''x'' as negligible compared to lower powers. [[David O. Tall]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jonhoyle.com/MAAseaway/Infinitesimals.html |title=Infinitesimals in Modern Mathematics |publisher=Jonhoyle.com |access-date=2011-03-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713115815/http://www.jonhoyle.com/MAAseaway/Infinitesimals.html |archive-date=2011-07-13 }}</ref> refers to this system as the super-reals, not to be confused with the [[superreal number]] system of Dales and Woodin. Since a [[Taylor series]] evaluated with a Laurent series as its argument is still a Laurent series, the system can be used to do calculus on transcendental functions if they are analytic. These infinitesimals have different first-order properties than the reals because, for example, the basic infinitesimal&nbsp;''x'' does not have a square root.

==== The Levi-Civita field ====
The [[Levi-Civita field]] is similar to the Laurent series, but is algebraically closed. For example, the basic infinitesimal x has a square root. This field is rich enough to allow a significant amount of analysis to be done, but its elements can still be represented on a computer in the same sense that real numbers can be represented in floating-point.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.uwec.edu/surepam/media/RS-Overview.pdf|title=Analysis on the Levi-Civita Field, a Brief Overview|last=Shamseddine|first=Khodr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608043202/http://www.uwec.edu/surepam/media/RS-Overview.pdf|archive-date=2011-06-08|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==== Transseries ====
The field of [[transseries]] is larger than the Levi-Civita field.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Edgar|first=Gerald A.|date=2010|title=Transseries for Beginners|url=https://people.math.osu.edu/edgar.2/preprints/trans_begin/|journal=[[Real Analysis Exchange]]|volume=35|issue=2|pages=253–310|doi=10.14321/realanalexch.35.2.0253|arxiv=0801.4877|s2cid=14290638}}</ref> An example of a transseries is:

:<math>e^\sqrt{\ln\ln x}+\ln\ln x+\sum_{j=0}^\infty e^x x^{-j},</math>

where for purposes of ordering ''x'' is considered infinite.

=== Surreal numbers ===
Conway's [[surreal number]]s fall into category 2, except that the surreal numbers form a [[proper class]] and not a set.<ref name="Alling1985">{{citation | url = https://www.ams.org/journals/tran/1985-287-01/S0002-9947-1985-0766225-7/S0002-9947-1985-0766225-7.pdf | title = Conway's Field of surreal numbers | last = Alling | first = Norman | date = Jan 1985 | journal = Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. | volume = 287 | issue = 1 | pages = 365–386 | access-date = 2019-03-05 | doi=10.1090/s0002-9947-1985-0766225-7| doi-access = free }}</ref> They are a system designed to be as rich as possible in different sizes of numbers, but not necessarily for convenience in doing analysis, in the sense that every ordered field is a subfield of the surreal numbers.<ref name=bajnok>{{cite book|last=Bajnok|first=Béla|title=An Invitation to Abstract Mathematics|year=2013|publisher=Springer |isbn=9781461466369|quote=Theorem 24.29. The surreal number system is the largest ordered field|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cNFzKnvxXoAC&q=%22surreal+numbers%22}}</ref> There is a natural extension of the exponential function to the surreal numbers.<ref name=G1986>{{cite book | last=Gonshor | first=Harry | title=An Introduction to the Theory of Surreal Numbers | year=1986 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | series=London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series | volume=110 | isbn= 9780521312059 | doi=10.1017/CBO9780511629143 }}</ref>{{rp|at=ch. 10}}

=== Hyperreals ===
{{Main|Hyperreal number}}
The most widespread technique for handling infinitesimals is the hyperreals, developed by [[Abraham Robinson]] in the 1960s. They fall into category 3 above, having been designed that way so all of classical analysis can be carried over from the reals. This property of being able to carry over all relations in a natural way is known as the [[transfer principle]], proved by [[Jerzy Łoś]] in 1955. For example, the transcendental function sin has a natural counterpart *sin that takes a hyperreal input and gives a hyperreal output, and similarly the set of natural numbers <math>\mathbb{N}</math> has a natural counterpart <math>^*\mathbb{N}</math>, which contains both finite and infinite integers. A proposition such as <math>\forall n \in \mathbb{N}, \sin n\pi=0</math> carries over to the hyperreals as <math>\forall n \in {}^*\mathbb{N}, {}^*\!\!\sin n\pi=0</math> .

=== Superreals ===
{{Main|Superreal number}}
The [[superreal number]] system of Dales and Woodin is a generalization of the hyperreals. It is different from the super-real system defined by [[David Tall]].

=== Dual numbers ===
{{Main|Dual number}}
In [[linear algebra]], the [[dual number]]s extend the reals by adjoining one infinitesimal, the new element ε with the property ε<sup>2</sup> = 0 (that is, ε is [[nilpotent]]). Every dual number has the form ''z'' = ''a'' + ''b''ε with ''a'' and ''b'' being uniquely determined real numbers.

One application of dual numbers is [[automatic differentiation]]. This application can be generalized to polynomials in n variables, using the [[Exterior algebra]] of an n-dimensional vector space.

=== Smooth infinitesimal analysis ===
{{Main|Smooth infinitesimal analysis}}
[[Synthetic differential geometry]] or [[smooth infinitesimal analysis]] have roots in [[category theory]]. This approach departs from the classical logic used in conventional mathematics by denying the general applicability of the [[law of excluded middle]] – i.e., ''not'' (''a'' ≠ ''b'') does not have to mean ''a'' = ''b''. A ''nilsquare'' or ''[[nilpotent]]'' infinitesimal can then be defined. This is a number ''x'' where ''x''<sup>2</sup> = 0 is true, but ''x'' = 0 need not be true at the same time. Since the background logic is [[intuitionistic logic]], it is not immediately clear how to classify this system with regard to classes 1, 2, and 3. Intuitionistic analogues of these classes would have to be developed first.

== Infinitesimal delta functions ==
[[Cauchy]] used an infinitesimal <math>\alpha</math> to write down a unit impulse, infinitely tall and narrow Dirac-type delta function <math>\delta_\alpha</math> satisfying <math>\int F(x)\delta_\alpha(x) = F(0)</math> in a number of articles in 1827, see Laugwitz (1989). Cauchy defined an infinitesimal in 1821 (Cours d'Analyse) in terms of a sequence tending to zero. Namely, such a null sequence becomes an infinitesimal in Cauchy's and [[Lazare Carnot]]'s terminology.

Modern set-theoretic approaches allow one to define infinitesimals via the [[ultrapower]] construction, where a null sequence becomes an infinitesimal in the sense of an equivalence class modulo a relation defined in terms of a suitable [[ultrafilter]]. The article by Yamashita (2007) contains bibliography on modern [[Dirac delta function]]s in the context of an infinitesimal-enriched continuum provided by the [[hyperreal number|hyperreals]].

== Logical properties ==
The method of constructing infinitesimals of the kind used in nonstandard analysis depends on the [[Model theory|model]] and which collection of [[axiom]]s are used. We consider here systems where infinitesimals can be shown to exist.

In 1936 [[Anatoly Maltsev|Maltsev]] proved the [[compactness theorem]]. This theorem is fundamental for the existence of infinitesimals as it proves that it is possible to formalise them. A consequence of this theorem is that if there is a number system in which it is true that for any positive integer ''n'' there is a positive number ''x'' such that 0&nbsp;<&nbsp;''x''&nbsp;<&nbsp;1/''n'', then there exists an extension of that number system in which it is true that there exists a positive number ''x'' such that for any positive integer ''n'' we have 0&nbsp;<&nbsp;''x''&nbsp;<&nbsp;1/''n''. The possibility to switch "for any" and "there exists" is crucial. The first statement is true in the real numbers as given in [[ZFC]] [[set theory]] : for any positive integer ''n'' it is possible to find a real number between 1/''n'' and zero, but this real number depends on ''n''. Here, one chooses ''n'' first, then one finds the corresponding ''x''. In the second expression, the statement says that there is an ''x'' (at least one), chosen first, which is between 0 and 1/''n'' for any ''n''. In this case ''x'' is infinitesimal. This is not true in the real numbers ('''R''') given by ZFC. Nonetheless, the theorem proves that there is a model (a number system) in which this is true. The question is: what is this model? What are its properties? Is there only one such model?

There are in fact many ways to construct such a [[dimension|one-dimensional]] [[linear order|linearly ordered]] set of numbers, but fundamentally, there are two different approaches:

# Extend the number system so that it contains more numbers than the real numbers.
# Extend the axioms (or extend the language) so that the distinction between the infinitesimals and non-infinitesimals can be made in the real numbers themselves.

In 1960, [[Abraham Robinson]] provided an answer following the first approach. The extended set is called the [[Hyperreal number|hyperreals]] and contains numbers less in absolute value than any positive real number. The method may be considered relatively complex but it does prove that infinitesimals exist in the universe of ZFC set theory. The real numbers are called standard numbers and the new non-real hyperreals are called [[Nonstandard analysis|nonstandard]].

In 1977 [[Edward Nelson]] provided an answer following the second approach. The extended axioms are IST, which stands either for [[Internal set theory]] or for the initials of the three extra axioms: Idealization, Standardization, Transfer. In this system, we consider that the language is extended in such a way that we can express facts about infinitesimals. The real numbers are either standard or nonstandard. An infinitesimal is a nonstandard real number that is less, in absolute value, than any positive standard real number.

In 2006 Karel Hrbacek developed an extension of Nelson's approach in which the real numbers are stratified in (infinitely) many levels; i.e., in the coarsest level, there are no infinitesimals nor unlimited numbers. Infinitesimals are at a finer level and there are also infinitesimals with respect to this new level and so on.

== Infinitesimals in teaching ==
Calculus textbooks based on infinitesimals include the classic ''[[Calculus Made Easy]]'' by [[Silvanus P. Thompson]] (bearing the motto "What one fool can do another can"<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/CalculusMadeEasy/page/n4|title=Calculus Made Easy|last=Thompson|first=Silvanus P.|publisher=The Macmillan Company|year=1914|edition=Second|location=New York|author-link=Silvanus P. Thompson}}</ref>) and the German text ''Mathematik fur Mittlere Technische Fachschulen der Maschinenindustrie'' by R. Neuendorff.<ref>R Neuendorff (1912) ''Lehrbuch der Mathematik fur Mittlere Technische Fachschulen der Maschinenindustrie'', Verlag Julius Springer, Berlin.</ref> 

Pioneering works based on [[Abraham Robinson]]'s infinitesimals include texts by [[Keith Stroyan|Stroyan]] (dating from 1972) and [[Howard Jerome Keisler]] ([[Elementary Calculus: An Infinitesimal Approach]]). Students easily relate to the intuitive notion of an infinitesimal difference 1-"[[0.999...]]", where "0.999..." differs from its standard meaning as the real number 1, and is reinterpreted as an infinite terminating extended decimal that is strictly less than 1.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ely|first=Robert|year=2010|title=Nonstandard student conceptions about infinitesimals|url=http://u.cs.biu.ac.il/~katzmik/ely10.pdf|url-status=live|journal=[[Journal for Research in Mathematics Education]]|volume=41|issue=2|pages=117–146|doi=10.5951/jresematheduc.41.2.0117|jstor=20720128|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506124205/http://u.cs.biu.ac.il/~katzmik/ely10.pdf|archive-date=2019-05-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Katz|first1=Karin Usadi|last2=Katz|first2=Mikhail G.|author-link2=Mikhail Katz|date=2010|title=When is .999... less than1?|url=http://www.math.umt.edu/tmme/vol7no1/TMME_vol7no1_2010_article1_pp.3_30.pdf|url-status=dead|journal=[[The Mathematics Enthusiast|The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast]]|volume=7|issue=1|pages=3–30|doi=10.54870/1551-3440.1381|arxiv=1007.3018|s2cid=11544878|issn=1551-3440|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121207075126/http://www.math.umt.edu/tmme/vol7no1/TMME_vol7no1_2010_article1_pp.3_30.pdf|archive-date=2012-12-07|access-date=2012-12-07}}</ref>

Another elementary calculus text that uses the theory of infinitesimals as developed by Robinson is ''Infinitesimal Calculus'' by Henle and Kleinberg, originally published in 1979.<ref>{{cite book|title=Infinitesimal Calculus|url=https://archive.org/details/infinitesimalcal0000henl|url-access=registration|last1=Henle|first1=James M.|last2=Kleinberg|first2=Eugene|publisher=The MIT Press, rereleased by Dover|year=1979|isbn=978-0-262-08097-2}}</ref> The authors introduce the language of first-order logic, and demonstrate the construction of a first order model of the hyperreal numbers. The text provides an introduction to the basics of integral and differential calculus in one dimension, including sequences and series of functions. In an Appendix, they also treat the extension of their model to the ''hyperhyper''reals, and demonstrate some applications for the extended model.

An elementary calculus text based on smooth infinitesimal analysis is  Bell, John L. (2008). A Primer of Infinitesimal Analysis, 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521887182.

A more recent calculus text utilizing infinitesimals is Dawson, C. Bryan (2022), Calculus Set Free: Infinitesimals to the Rescue, Oxford University Press.  ISBN 9780192895608.

== Functions tending to zero ==
In a related but somewhat different sense, which evolved from the original definition of "infinitesimal" as an infinitely small quantity, the term has also been used to refer to a function tending to zero. More precisely, Loomis and Sternberg's ''Advanced Calculus'' defines the function class of infinitesimals, <math>\mathfrak{I}</math>, as a subset of functions <math>f:V\to W</math> between normed vector spaces by <blockquote><math>\mathfrak{I}(V,W) = \{f:V\to W\ |\ f(0)=0,
(\forall \epsilon>0) (\exists \delta>0)
\ \backepsilon\ ||\xi||<\delta\implies
||f(\xi)||<\epsilon\}</math>, </blockquote>as well as two related classes <math>\mathfrak{O},\mathfrak{o}</math> (see [[Big O notation|Big-O notation]]) by <blockquote><math>\mathfrak{O}(V,W) = \{f:V\to W\ |\ f(0)=0,\ (\exist r>0,c>0)\ \backepsilon\ 
||\xi||< r \implies ||f(\xi)||\leq c||
\xi||\}</math>, and</blockquote><blockquote><math>\mathfrak{o}(V,W) = \{f:V\to W\ |\ f(0)=0,\ \lim_{||\xi||\to 0} ||f(\xi)|| / ||\xi|| = 0\}</math>.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/LoomisL.H.SternbergS.AdvancedCalculusRevisedEditionJonesAndBartlett|title=Advanced Calculus|last1=Loomis|first1=Lynn Harold|last2=Sternberg|first2=Shlomo|publisher=World Scientific|year=2014|isbn=978-981-4583-92-3|location=Hackensack, N.J.|pages=138–142}}</ref></blockquote>The set inclusions <math>\mathfrak{o}(V,W)\subsetneq\mathfrak{O}(V,W)\subsetneq\mathfrak{I}(V,W)</math>generally hold. That the inclusions are proper is demonstrated by the real-valued functions of a real variable <math>f:x\mapsto |x|^{1/2}</math>, <math>g:x\mapsto x </math>, and <math>h:x\mapsto x^2 </math>:  <blockquote><math>f,g,h\in\mathfrak{I}(\mathbb{R},\mathbb{R}),\  g,h\in\mathfrak{O}(\mathbb{R},\mathbb{R}),\ 
h\in\mathfrak{o}(\mathbb{R},\mathbb{R})</math> but <math>f,g\notin\mathfrak{o}(\mathbb{R},\mathbb{R})</math> and <math>f\notin\mathfrak{O}(\mathbb{R},\mathbb{R})</math>.</blockquote>As an application of these definitions, a mapping <math>F:V\to W</math> between normed vector spaces is defined to be differentiable at <math>\alpha\in V</math> if there is a <math>T\in\mathrm{Hom}(V,W)</math> [i.e, a bounded linear map <math>V\to W</math>] such that <blockquote><math>[F(\alpha+\xi)-F(\alpha)]-T(\xi)\in \mathfrak{o}(V,W)</math></blockquote>in a neighborhood of <math>\alpha</math>. If such a map exists, it is unique; this map is called the ''differential'' and is denoted by <math>dF_\alpha</math>,<ref>This notation is not to be confused with the many other distinct usages of ''d'' in calculus that are all loosely related to the classical notion of the differential as "taking an infinitesimally small piece of something": ''(1)'' in the expression<math>\int f(x)\, d\alpha(x)</math>, <math>d\alpha(x)</math> indicates Riemann-Stieltjes integration with respect to the integrator function <math>\alpha</math>; ''(2)'' in the expression <math>\int f\, d\mu</math>, <math>d\mu</math> symbolizes Lebesgue integration with respect to a measure <math>\mu</math>; ''(3)'' in the expression <math>\int_{\mathbf{R}^n} f\; dV</math>, ''dV'' indicates integration with respect to volume; ''(4)'' in the expression <math>dx^{i_1}\wedge\cdots\wedge dx^{i_n}</math>, the letter ''d'' represents the exterior derivative operator, and so on....</ref> coinciding with the traditional notation for the classical (though logically flawed) notion of a differential as an infinitely small "piece" of ''F''. This definition represents a generalization of the usual definition of differentiability for vector-valued functions of (open subsets of) Euclidean spaces.

== Array of random variables ==
Let <math>(\Omega,\mathcal{F},\mathbb{P})</math> be a [[probability space]] and let <math>n\in\mathbb{N}</math>. An array <math>\{X_{n,k}:\Omega\to\mathbb{R}\mid 1\le k\le k_{n}\}</math> of [[random variable]]s is called infinitesimal if for every <math>\epsilon>0</math>, we have:<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Barczyk|first1=Adam|last2=Janssen|first2=Arnold|last3=Pauly|first3=Markus|year=2011|title=The Asymptotics of L-statistics for non-i.i.d. variables with heavy tails|url=https://www.math.uni.wroc.pl/~pms/files/31.2/Article/31.2.7.pdf|url-status=live|journal=Probability and Mathematical Statistics|volume=31|issue=2|pages=285–299|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190821091242/https://www.math.uni.wroc.pl/~pms/files/31.2/Article/31.2.7.pdf|archive-date=2019-08-21}}</ref>
:<math>\max_{1\le k\le k_{n}}\mathbb{P}\{\omega\in\Omega\mid \vert X_{n,k}(\omega)\vert\geq\epsilon\}\to 0\text{ as } n\to\infty</math>
The notion of infinitesimal array is essential in some central limit theorems and it is easily seen by monotonicity of the expectation operator that any array satisfying [[Lindeberg's condition]] is infinitesimal, thus playing an important role in [[Central limit theorem#Lindeberg CLT|Lindeberg's Central Limit Theorem]] (a generalization of the [[central limit theorem]]).

== See also ==
{{Portal|Mathematics}}
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Cantor function]]
* [[Differential (infinitesimal)]]
* [[Indeterminate form]]
* [[Infinitesimal calculus]]
* [[Infinitesimal transformation]]
* [[Instant]]
* [[Nonstandard calculus]]
* [[Model theory]]
{{div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== References ==
{{refbegin}}
* B. Crowell, "Calculus" (2003)
* Dawson, C. Bryan, "Calculus Set Free: Infinitesimals to the Rescue" (2022) Oxford University Press
*Ehrlich, P. (2006) The rise of non-Archimedean mathematics and the roots of a misconception. I. The emergence of non-Archimedean systems of magnitudes. Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. 60, no. 1, 1–121.
* [[Antoni Malet|Malet, Antoni]]. "Barrow, Wallis, and the remaking of seventeenth-century indivisibles". ''Centaurus''  39 (1997), no. 1, 67–92.
* J. Keisler, "Elementary Calculus" (2000) University of Wisconsin
* K. Stroyan "Foundations of Infinitesimal Calculus" (1993)
*[[Keith Stroyan|Stroyan, K. D.]]; [[Wilhelmus Luxemburg|Luxemburg, W. A. J.]] Introduction to the theory of infinitesimals. Pure and Applied Mathematics, No. 72. Academic Press [Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers], New York-London, 1976.
* [[Robert Goldblatt]] (1998) "Lectures on the hyperreals" Springer.
* [[Nigel Cutland|Cutland]] et al. "Nonstandard Methods and Applications in Mathematics" (2007) Lecture Notes in Logic 25, Association for Symbolic Logic.
*  "The Strength of Nonstandard Analysis" (2007) Springer.
*{{Cite journal|doi=10.1007/BF00329867|author-link=Detlef Laugwitz|last=Laugwitz|first=D.|year=1989|title=Definite values of infinite sums: aspects of the foundations of infinitesimal analysis around 1820|journal=[[Archive for History of Exact Sciences]]|volume=39|issue=3|pages=195–245|s2cid=120890300}}
* Yamashita, H.: Comment on: "Pointwise analysis of scalar Fields: a nonstandard approach" [J. Math. Phys. 47 (2006), no. 9, 092301; 16 pp.]. J. Math. Phys. 48 (2007), no. 8, 084101, 1 page.
{{refend}}
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