Generosity: no doubt, but at times excessive and delusive (Q5901489)

The author asserts that ``One of the ways in which the artificial languages of mathematics are `generous', that is, in which way they assist the advance of the thought, is through their establishment of advanced operatory structures that permit an even further advance of intuition. However, this generosity may be delusive, suggest the ideas which in the longer run turn out to be untenable.'' Two cases of ``honest generosity'' are analyzed, Dardi of Pisa's proof of the sign rule ``less times less makes plus,'' from his \textit{Aliabraa argibra} and a result in partition theory from Euler's \textit{Introductio in analysin infinitorum}. They are followed by a perilous case of introduction of transfinite numbers from Georg Cantor's \textit{Beiträge zur Begründung der transfiniten Mengenlehre} and a delusive generosity from the Vatican manuscript \textit{Vat. Lat. 10488} where an extension of the semi-group of non-negative algebraic powers into a group has been attempted.