Abstract
Zeno, the 5-th century BC Greek philosopher, who is mainly remembered for his paradoxes, never gained the same prestige and admiration as did for example Socrates or Plato. But more than any other philosopher before or after him, Zeno introduced strong elements of uncertainty into mathematical thinking. He stumped mathematicians for over 2000 years, and his paradoxes provided both controversy and stimulation (besides entertainment of course) that inspired new research and ideas, including the development of calculus. This is quite fascinating considering the fact that he was a philosopher and logician, but not a mathematician.
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© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Friedman, M., Kandel, A. (2011). Historical Background. In: Calculus Light. Intelligent Systems Reference Library, vol 9. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-17848-1_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-17848-1_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-17847-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-17848-1
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