Convergence and Formal Manipulation of Series from the Origins of Calculus to About 1730 (Q4710153)

Discussing many examples up to 1730 by G. W. Leibniz, I. Newton, Jacob Bernoulli, J. Stirling, A. de Moivre and others, the author argues that the modern notion of convergence of infinite series and the distinction between finite and infinite series were of no primary concern for these mathematicians. He finds reasons in the connection of that work to specific geometrical problems (which often secured convergence anyway) and in the priority of analytical expressions over the more modern notion of function series, not yet fully in existence. The author states (without giving details) that from the standpoint of application ``convergence'' was not the main problem but ``fast convergence'' instead. Ferraro examines the emergence of the notions of asymptotic and recurrence series in work by J. Stirling and A. de Moivre respectively. That strong sense of a correspondence to reality was, in Ferraro's opinion, replaced in the 19th century by syntactical correctness.