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The absolute infinite (symbol: Ω), in context often called "absolute", is an extension of the idea of infinity proposed by mathematician Georg Cantor. It can be thought of as a number that is bigger than any other conceivable or inconceivable quantity, either finite or transfinite .
Cantor distinguished two types of actual infinity, the transfinite and the absolute, about which he affirmed: These concepts are to be strictly differentiated, insofar the former is, to be sure, infinite , yet capable of increase , whereas the latter is incapable of increase and is therefore indeterminable as a mathematical concept.
Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor (/ ˈ k æ n t ɔːr / KAN-tor; German: [ˈɡeːɔʁk ˈfɛʁdinant ˈluːtvɪç ˈfiːlɪp ˈkantoːɐ̯]; 3 March [O.S. 19 February] 1845 – 6 January 1918 [1]) was a mathematician who played a pivotal role in the creation of set theory, which has become a fundamental theory in mathematics.
In this usage, infinity is a mathematical concept, and infinite mathematical objects can be studied, manipulated, and used just like any other mathematical object. The mathematical concept of infinity refines and extends the old philosophical concept, in particular by introducing infinitely many different sizes of infinite sets.
Before Cantor, the notion of infinity was often taken as a useful abstraction which helped mathematicians reason about the finite world; for example the use of infinite limit cases in calculus. The infinite was deemed to have at most a potential existence, rather than an actual existence. [16] "Actual infinity does not exist.
In philosophy and theology, infinity is explored in articles under headings such as the Absolute, God, and Zeno's paradoxes. In Greek philosophy, for example in Anaximander, 'the Boundless' is the origin of all that is. He took the beginning or first principle to be an endless, unlimited primordial mass (ἄπειρον, apeiron).
The infinity symbol (∞) is a mathematical symbol representing the concept of infinity. This symbol is also called a lemniscate , [ 1 ] after the lemniscate curves of a similar shape studied in algebraic geometry , [ 2 ] or "lazy eight", in the terminology of livestock branding .
An illustration of Cantor's diagonal argument (in base 2) for the existence of uncountable sets.The sequence at the bottom cannot occur anywhere in the enumeration of sequences above.