Actual Infinity

Actual infinity is the idea that numbers, or some other type of mathematical object, can form an actual, completed totality; namely, a set. Hence, in the philosophy of mathematics, the abstraction of actual infinity involves the acceptance of infinite entities, such as the set of all natural numbers or an infinite sequence of rational numbers, as given objects.

Read more about Actual Infinity:  Aristotle's Potential–actual Distinction, Opposition From The Intuitionist School, History, Scholastic Philosophers, Classical Set Theory

Famous quotes containing the words actual and/or infinity:

    The persons who constitute the natural aristocracy, are not found in the actual aristocracy, or, only on its edge; as the chemical energy of the spectrum is found to be greatest just outside of the spectrum.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    The poetic notion of infinity is far greater than that which is sponsored by any creed.
    Joseph Brodsky (b. 1940)