How We Got from There to Here: A Story of Real Analysis
Credit: Course image adapted from a figure by Eugene Boman and Robert Rogers and is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Resource Description
The typical introductory real analysis text starts with an analysis of the real number system and uses this to develop the definition of a limit, which is then used as a foundation for the definitions encountered thereafter. While this is certainly a reasonable approach from a logical point of view, it is not how the subject evolved, nor is it necessarily the best way to introduce students to the rigorous but highly non-intuitive definitions and proofs found in analysis.
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