The thesis concerns the (class) structure No of Conway’s surreal numbers. The main concern is the behaviour on No of some of the classical functions of real analysis, and a definition of integral for such functions. In the main texts on No, most definitions and proofs are done by transfinite recursion and induction on the complexity of elements. In the thesis I consider a general scheme of definition for functions on No, generalising those for sum, product and exponential. If a function has such a definition, and can live in a Hardy field, and satisfies some auxiliary technical conditions, one can obtain in No a substantial analogue of real analysis for that function. One example is the sign-change property, and this (applied to polynomials) gives an alternative treatment of the basic fact that No is real closed. I discuss the analogue for the exponential. Using these ideas one can define a generalization of Riemann integration (the indefinite integral falling under the recursion scheme). The new integral is linear, monotone, and satisfies integration by parts. For some classical functions (eg polynomials) the integral yields the traditional formulas of analysis. There are, however, anomalies for the exponential function. But one can show that the logarithm, defined as the inverse of the exponential, is the integral of 1/x as usual.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:651016 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Fornasiero, Antongiulio |
| Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/12194 |
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