Stevin numbers and reality (Q351454)

The authors present their views on the history and philosophy of real numbers, the continuum, and infinitesimals. Other views differing from theirs are characterized with terms such as ``incoherence'' and ``comic \textsl{non-sequitur}''. A related paper co-written by one of the authors had been rejected for publication, and the present article takes to task a referee involved, concluding that ``[t]he notion of a Cauchy as a pre-Weierstrassian, apparently espoused by the referee, is just as preposterous as the notion of Cauchy as a pre-Robinsonian. Such a notion is a reflection of a commitment to a triumvirate ideology, elevated to the status of a conditioned reflex.''