Questions tagged [nonstandard-analysis]

Non-standard ordered fields are fields which have infinitesimals, that is, positive numbers which are smaller than any positive *real* number. Non-standard analysis is analysis done over such fields (e.g. hyperreal fields). Please specify the exact framework for non-standard analysis you are using in your question (e.g., what definition of "hyperreal number" you are using).

A non-zero element $\varepsilon$ of an ordered field is infinitesimal if $|\varepsilon| < \frac{1}{n}$ for all $n \in \mathbb{N}$. Nonstandard analysis is analysis done in fields with infinitesimals.

There are many ordered fields which contain infinitesimals, but the most common is the hyperreal field. Denoted by ${}^*\mathbb{R}$, the hyperreal field has a subfield isomorphic to $\mathbb{R}$ and is therefore the perfect setting for formalising the arguments of Leibniz and Newton (without the need for limits). This came to fruition in the 1960's thanks to the work of Abraham Robinson.

See also .

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What are hyperreal numbers? (Clarifying an already answered question)

This question already has an answer here. That answer is abstract. Could you help me with some not-so-abstract examples of what the answerer is talking about? For example, give examples of hyperreal numbers which are written as numbers, if that is…
Andreas
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Intuition for a physical real line vs. a physical "hyperreal line"

As a mathematical structure, I have no problem with the hyperreals. But I came across the following from Keisler's book "Elementary Calculus: An Infinitesimal Approach". "We have no way of knowing what a line in physical space is really like. It…
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Are there non-standard counterexamples to the Fermat Last Theorem?

This is another way to ask if Wiles's proof can be converted into a "purely number-theoretic" one. If there is no proof in Peano Arithmetic then there should be non-standard integers that satisfy the Fermat equation. I vaguely remember that most…
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Hyperreal measure?

If AC be accepted, then there exists a Lebesgue unmeasurable set called Vitali Set. However, I'm curious about measure valued in hyperreal numbers. Argument in disproof of unmeasurability of Vitali sets had used the fact that no positive real number…
Popopo
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Who gave you the epsilon?

Who gave you the epsilon? is the title of an article by J. Grabiner on Cauchy from the 1980s, and the implied answer is "Cauchy". On the other hand, historian I. Grattan-Guinness points out in his book that "Weierstrass undoubtedly saw himself as…
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Does every Cauchy net of hyperreals converge?

This came up in a discussion with Pete L. Clark on this question on complete ordered fields. I argued that every Cauchy sequence in the hyperreal field is eventually constant, hence convergent; he asked whether the same is true for arbitrary Cauchy…
Akhil Mathew
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What exactly is nonstandard about Nonstandard Analysis?

I have only a vague understanding of nonstandard analysis from reading Reuben Hersh & Philip Davis, The Mathematical Experience. As a physics major I do have some education in standard analysis, but wonder what the properties are that the…
Jens
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Non-ZFC set theory and the hyperreals: problem solved?

The reals are the unique complete ordered field. The hyperreals $\mathbb{R}^*$ are not unique in ZFC, and many people seemed to think this was a serious objection to them. Abraham Robinson responded that this was because ZFC was tuned up to…
user13618
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What is the Galois group of the Hyperreal Numbers?

The Galois Group of $\mathbb{R}$ as an extension of $\mathbb{Q}$ is trivial. That’s because any field automorphism of $\mathbb{R}$ is order preserving, so since $\mathbb{Q}$ is dense in $\mathbb{R}$, it follows that the only field automorphism of…
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How can $0.999\dots$ not equal $1$?

First, by definition I assume that $0.999...$ actually is defined as: $$\text{lim}_{n\rightarrow\infty}\sum_{i=1}^n 9/10^i$$ Now by geometric series we already know that this equals one. But nonetheless here is an explicit proof. The statement…
Dole
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Can nonstandard analysis give a uniform probability distribution over the integers?

There exists no uniform probability distribution over the non-negative integers. This is because we would need to have $p(i)=q$ for all $i$, for some real number $0\le q\le 1$. But normalisation requires $$\sum_{i=1}^\infty q = 1,\tag{*} $$ and…
N. Virgo
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What is the topology of the hyperreal line?

Denote by $\Bbb R$ the real line and by $\Bbb R^*$ the hyperreal line. For any real numbers $x < y < z$ and infinitesimal $\epsilon$ the following holds: \begin{equation} \forall a,b,c \in \Bbb R:~~~x + a\cdot \epsilon
Andrea
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Uniqueness of hyperreals contructed via ultrapowers

The construction I've seen of the field of hyperreal numbers considers a non-principal ultrafilter $\mathcal{U}$ on $\mathbb{N}$, then takes the quotient of $\mathbb{R}^{\mathbb{N}}$ by equivalence respect to $\mathcal{U}$, that is,…
LCL
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Hyperreal field extension

In non-standard analysis, assuming the continuum hypothesis, the field of hyperreals $\mathbb{R}^*$ is a field extension of $\mathbb{R}$. What can you say about this field extension? Is it algebraic? Probably not, right? Transcendental? Normal?…
FPP
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l'Hopital's questionable premise?

Historians widely report that l'Hopital's 1696 book Analyse des Infiniment Petits pour l'Intelligence des Lignes Courbes contains a questionable premise expressed by an equation of type $x+dx=x$ (sometimes written as $y+dy=y$ as in Laugwitz 1997). I…
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