A comprehensive review of the characterization of real numbers

The real number system is a fundamental tool for rigorous demonstrations of the differential and integral calculus results. Even after a century of formalization on solid foundations, discussions about the construction of this field are generally omitted in advanced courses such as Real Analysis. In...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Víctor Arturo Martínez León, Rodrigo Bloot, Ana Letícia de Oliveira
Format: Article
Language:Spanish
Published: Universidad Nacional de Trujillo 2024-12-01
Series:Selecciones Matemáticas
Subjects:
Online Access:https://revistas.unitru.edu.pe/index.php/SSMM/article/view/6160
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The real number system is a fundamental tool for rigorous demonstrations of the differential and integral calculus results. Even after a century of formalization on solid foundations, discussions about the construction of this field are generally omitted in advanced courses such as Real Analysis. In the present work, we present a comprehensive review on the construction and characterization of the real numbers field. The presentation focuses on the construction through Cauchy sequences of rational numbers. The notion of completeness is delimited differently from completeness when Dedekind’s cut construction is used. The results indicate Q and R Archimedean as a necessary condition for these two notions of completeness to be equivalent. To illustrate this, inspired by the work of Leon W. Cohen and Gertrude Ehrlich, we present an example of a Cauchy-complete non-Archimedean ordered field in which the supremum axiom is not equivalent to the nested intervals principle.
ISSN:2411-1783