Talk:Cantor's first set theory article/Archive 1: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:58, 12 January 2004

Revision as of 22:17, 12 January 2004

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I would not have been certain if the diagonal proof was the first one, but my guess (if I would have to bet) would have been that it was, as this is the proof that is most known and famous, so in this sense, I think it's a misconception. Also, mathematicians are pretty sloppy historians (see [[Fermat number]] re: Gauss ''n''-gon construction) so it's best to assume we don't know what we're doing, I think. [[user:revolver|Revolver]]

:I've looked up Cantor's 1874 paper in ''Journal für die Reine und Angewandta Mathematik'', and the argument given in that article is indeed the one given here. See also Joseph Dauben's book about Cantor. This was indeed his first proof of this result. [[User:Michael Hardy|Michael Hardy]] 22:17, 12 Jan 2004 (UTC)