Abstract
In a letter to Thomas J. Stieltjes, dated 13 May 1894 (Hermite and Stieltjes, 1905, vol. II, p. 398), Charles Hermite, one of the major analysts of his times, expresses his views about the subject-matter of his own study as follows:
I believe that numbers and functions of analysis are not the arbitrary product of our mind; I think that they exist outside of ourselves, with the same character of necessity as the things of objective reality, and that we encounter, or discover them, and that we study them like physicists, chemists, zoologists, etc.
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© 2013 Marco Panza and Andrea Sereni
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Panza, M., Sereni, A. (2013). The Origins. In: Plato’s Problem. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137298133_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137298133_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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