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Although implicit in the development of calculus of the 17th and 18th centuries, the modern idea of the limit of a function goes back to Bolzano who, in 1817, introduced the basics of the epsilon-delta technique (see (ε, δ)-definition of limit below) to define continuous functions. However, his work was not known during his lifetime.
H. Jerome Keisler, David Tall, and other educators maintain that the use of infinitesimals is more intuitive and more easily grasped by students than the "epsilon–delta" approach to analytic concepts. [10] This approach can sometimes provide easier proofs of results than the corresponding epsilon–delta formulation of the proof.
In mathematics, a limit is the value that a function (or sequence) approaches as the argument (or index) approaches some value. [1] Limits of functions are essential to calculus and mathematical analysis , and are used to define continuity , derivatives , and integrals .
In general, any infinite series is the limit of its partial sums. For example, an analytic function is the limit of its Taylor series, within its radius of convergence. = =. This is known as the harmonic series. [6]
Keisler's Elementary Calculus: An Infinitesimal Approach defines continuity on page 125 in terms of infinitesimals, to the exclusion of epsilon, delta methods. The derivative is defined on page 45 using infinitesimals rather than an epsilon-delta approach. The integral is defined on page 183 in terms of infinitesimals.
The epsilon–delta definition of a limit was introduced to formalize the definition of continuity. Continuity is one of the core concepts of calculus and mathematical analysis, where arguments and values of functions are real and complex numbers. The concept has been generalized to functions between metric spaces and between topological spaces.
A sequence of functions () converges uniformly to when for arbitrary small there is an index such that the graph of is in the -tube around f whenever . The limit of a sequence of continuous functions does not have to be continuous: the sequence of functions () = (marked in green and blue) converges pointwise over the entire domain, but the limit function is discontinuous (marked in red).
In mathematics, the limit of a sequence is the value that the terms of a sequence "tend to", and is often denoted using the symbol (e.g., ). [1] If such a limit exists and is finite, the sequence is called convergent . [ 2 ]