2017/02/06 by Galina Iwanowna Sinkiewicz · 1 citation
Mathematics · Social Sciences · #History and Theory of Mathematics #Algebraic and Geometric Analysis #Language and Culture #Function (biology) #Interpretation (philosophy) #Subject (documents) #Proposition
paper · doi:10.14708/am.v10i0.805
openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex publication_date 2017/02/06 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
This is a overview of the genesis of epsilon-delta language in works of mathematicians of the 19th century. It shows that although the symbols epsilon and delta were initially introduced in 1823 by Cauchy, no functional relationship for delta as a function of epsilon was ever specified by Cauchy. It was only in 1861 that the epsilon-delta method manifested itself to the full in Weierstrass' definition of a limit. The article gives various interpretations of these issues later provided by mathematicians.