Exceptions and counterexamples: understanding Abel's comment on Cauchy's theorem (Q2576314): Difference between revisions

The author compares the approach of Abel to the new mathematical analysis of the 1820s as then being founded by Cauchy. As is well known, he criticised Cauchy for lack of rigour on a famous apparently false theorem on the convergence of an infinite series of continuous functions. He situates the criticism within ``the transformation from a \textit{formula-centered} to a \textit{concept-centered} approach'' to the subject. He also discusses results of the time by some contemporaries, including ones centred upon formulae. He discusses the use at that time of the word ``exception''; the alternative ``counter-example'' seems to be of much later origin, indeed fairly recent.