Thursday, 26 January 2017

nonstandard analysis - About 0.999... = 1




I've just happened to read this question on MO (that of course has been closed) and some of the answers to a similar question on MSE.



I know almost nothing of nonstandard analysis and was asking myself if something like the sentence « 10.999 is a nonzero positive infinitesimal» could be easily expressed and proved in nonstandard analysis.



First of all, what is 0.999... ? If we take the usual definition as a series or as a limit of a sequence of rationals, then it will still be a real number and equal to 1 (I guess by "transfer principle", but please correct me if I'm wrong).



Instead, let's define



0.9N:=Ni=1910i




where NNN is an infinite nonstandard natural number. This 0.9N is a legitimate element of R, expressed as 0. followed by an infinite number of "9" digits.



What can be said about ϵN:=10.9N ? Is there an elementary proof that ϵN is a positive infinitesimal of R ? (by "elementary" I mean just order and field axioms and the intuitive facts about infinitesimals, like that for x infinite 1/x is infinitesimal etc.; no nonprincipal ultrafilters & C).


Answer



We can use the geometric series formula:



0.9N=Ni=1910i=9101110N1101=(110N)



Since N is infinite, ϵN=10N=1/10N is infinitesimal.



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