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Variational Calculus

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On Hilbert's Sixth Problem

Part of the book series: Synthese Library ((SYLI,volume 441))

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Abstract

However we will handle mathematical objects the way physicists do. We are aware that there is a huge epistemological problem here: the way mathematics is handled by physicists looks different from the way mathematicians use their tools. Examples are everywhere, from the H-theorem to Dirac’s δ and Feynmann integration. So far the loose style—so to say—of physicists has been satisfactorily reduced to the matnhematicians’ way. Will physicists’ mathematics be always reducible to the mathematicians’ way of doing mathematics?

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Physicist’s style! Recall the beautiful argument that leads Feynmann to the construction of his integral.

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da Costa, N.C.A., Antonio Doria, F. (2022). Variational Calculus. In: On Hilbert's Sixth Problem. Synthese Library, vol 441. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83837-9_3

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