Mathematic Analysis

Analysis

Analysis is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle, though analysis as a formal concept is a relatively recent development. As a formal concept, the method has variously been ascribed to Ibn al-Haytham, Descartes (Discourse on the Method), Galileo, and Newton, as a practical method of physical discovery. 


In mathematics, the recurring decimal 0.999…, denotes a real number equal to 1. In other words, the notations "0.999…" and "1" represent the same real number. The equality has long been accepted by professional mathematicians and taught in textbooks. Various proofs of this identity have been formulated with varying rigour, preferred development of the real numbers, background assumptions, historical context, and target audience.
In the last few decades, researchers of mathematics education have studied the reception of this equality among students. A great many question or reject the equality, at least initially. Many are swayed by textbooks, teachers and arithmetic reasoning as below to accept that the two are equal. However, they are often uneasy enough that they offer further justification. The students' reasoning for denying or affirming the equality is typically based on one of a few common erroneous intuitions about the real numbers; for example that each real number has a unique decimal expansion, that nonzero infinitesimal real numbers should exist, or that the expansion of 0.999… eventually terminates.

Did you know?

• ...that the Gudermannian function relates the circular trigonometric functions and the hyperbolic trigonometric functions without the use of complex numbers?