A Brief History of Infinity: The Quest to Think the Unthinkable

Abstract

Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the street to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.' Douglas Adams, Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy We human beings have trouble with infinity - yet infinity is a surprisingly human subject. Philosophers and mathematicians have gone mad contemplating its nature and complexity - yet it is a concept routinely used by schoolchildren. Exploring the infinite is a journey into paradox. Here is a quantity that turns arithmetic on its head. Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; 1 To Infinity and Beyond; 2 Counting on Your Fingers; 3 A Different Mathematics; 4 The Power of Number; 5 The Absolute; 6 Labelling the Infinite; 7 Peeking under the Carpet; 8 The Indivisible Mystery; 9 Fluxion Wars; 10 Paradoxes of the Infinite; 11 Set in Stone; 12 Thinking the Unthinkable; 13 Order versus the Cardinals; 14 An Infinity of Infinities; 15 Madness and Sanity; 16 Infinitesimally Small; 17 Infinity to Go; 18 Endless Fascination; References; Index.