The paradoxes and the infinite dazzled ancient mathematics and continue to do so today

Abstract

This paper looks at how ancient mathematicians (and especially the Pythagorean school) were faced by problems/paradoxes associated with the infinite which led them to juggle two systems of numbers: the discrete whole/rationals which were handled arithmetically and the continuous magnitude quantities which were handled geometrically. We look at how approximations and mixed numbers (whole numbers with fractions) helped develop the arithmetization of geometry and the development of mathematical analysis and real numbers.