Lecture

Introduction to Real Numbers

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Description

This lecture introduces the axiomatic structure of the real numbers, emphasizing the properties required for R to be considered a field with a total order. The instructor explains the completeness property of R, the Archimedean property, and the equivalence between Archimedean and Cauchy sequences. The lecture also covers the existence of models for R, including the real line and decimal numbers.

In MOOCs (2)

Analysis I

This course covers : Part 1: Prelude, basic concepts, real numbers. Part 2: Introduction to complex numbers. Part 3: Real number sequences I and II. Part 4: Limit of a function, continuous functions. Part 5: Continuous functions and derivable functions, the derivative function. Part 6: Studies of functions, limited developments. Part 7: Indefinite and definite integrals, integration (selected chapters).

Analysis I (part 1): Prelude, basic concepts, real numbers

Can you calculate the value of sin(π/4)? Does the identity ln(xy)=ln(x)+ln(y) sound familiar? In the prelude we recall and expand on a few such notions, in particular the trigonometric functions sin, cos and tan and their properties, the concept of reciprocal functions such as exp and ln, some calculation rules concerning powers, logarithms and roots, sets and functions. Next we discuss number systems: based on the "intuitive" notion of the natural integers N={0,1,2,3,...}, we rigorously define the rational

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Related concepts (32)

Real number

In mathematics, a real number is a number that can be used to measure a continuous one-dimensional quantity such as a distance, duration or temperature. Here, continuous means that pairs of values can have arbitrarily small differences. Every real number can be almost uniquely represented by an infinite decimal expansion. The real numbers are fundamental in calculus (and more generally in all mathematics), in particular by their role in the classical definitions of limits, continuity and derivatives.

Completeness of the real numbers

Completeness is a property of the real numbers that, intuitively, implies that there are no "gaps" (in Dedekind's terminology) or "missing points" in the real number line. This contrasts with the rational numbers, whose corresponding number line has a "gap" at each irrational value. In the decimal number system, completeness is equivalent to the statement that any infinite string of decimal digits is actually a decimal representation for some real number.

Extended real number line

In mathematics, the affinely extended real number system is obtained from the real number system by adding two infinity elements: and where the infinities are treated as actual numbers. It is useful in describing the algebra on infinities and the various limiting behaviors in calculus and mathematical analysis, especially in the theory of measure and integration. The affinely extended real number system is denoted or or It is the Dedekind–MacNeille completion of the real numbers.

Cauchy sequence

In mathematics, a Cauchy sequence, named after Augustin-Louis Cauchy, is a sequence whose elements become arbitrarily close to each other as the sequence progresses. More precisely, given any small positive distance, all but a finite number of elements of the sequence are less than that given distance from each other. It is not sufficient for each term to become arbitrarily close to the term. For instance, in the sequence of square roots of natural numbers: the consecutive terms become arbitrarily close to each other – their differences tend to zero as the index n grows.

Projectively extended real line

In real analysis, the projectively extended real line (also called the one-point compactification of the real line), is the extension of the set of the real numbers, , by a point denoted ∞. It is thus the set with the standard arithmetic operations extended where possible, and is sometimes denoted by or The added point is called the point at infinity, because it is considered as a neighbour of both ends of the real line. More precisely, the point at infinity is the limit of every sequence of real numbers whose absolute values are increasing and unbounded.

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