
Analysis is the branch of
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
dealing with
continuous function
In mathematics, a continuous function is a function such that a continuous variation (that is a change without jump) of the argument induces a continuous variation of the value of the function. This means that there are no abrupt changes in value ...
s,
limit
Limit or Limits may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Limit'' (manga), a manga by Keiko Suenobu
* ''Limit'' (film), a South Korean film
* Limit (music), a way to characterize harmony
* "Limit" (song), a 2016 single by Luna Sea
* "Limits", a 2019 ...
s, and related theories, such as
differentiation,
integration,
measure,
infinite sequences,
series, and
analytic functions.
These theories are usually studied in the context of
real and
complex numbers and
functions. Analysis evolved from
calculus, which involves the elementary concepts and techniques of analysis.
Analysis may be distinguished from
geometry; however, it can be applied to any
space of
mathematical objects that has a definition of nearness (a
topological space) or specific distances between objects (a
metric space).
History
Ancient
Mathematical analysis formally developed in the 17th century during the
Scientific Revolution,
but many of its ideas can be traced back to earlier mathematicians. Early results in analysis were implicitly present in the early days of
ancient Greek mathematics. For instance, an
infinite geometric sum is implicit in
Zeno's paradox of the dichotomy.
(Strictly speaking, the point of the paradox is to deny that the infinite sum exists.) Later,
Greek mathematicians such as
Eudoxus and
Archimedes
Archimedes of Syracuse (;; ) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists ...
made more explicit, but informal, use of the concepts of limits and convergence when they used the
method of exhaustion to compute the area and volume of regions and solids.
The explicit use of
infinitesimals appears in Archimedes' ''
The Method of Mechanical Theorems'', a work rediscovered in the 20th century. In Asia, the
Chinese mathematician Liu Hui used the method of exhaustion in the 3rd century AD to find the area of a circle. From Jain literature, it appears that Hindus were in possession of the formulae for the sum of the
arithmetic
Arithmetic () is an elementary part of mathematics that consists of the study of the properties of the traditional operations on numbers— addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponentiation, and extraction of roots. In the 19th ...
and
geometric
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ca ...
series as early as the 4th century B.C.
Ācārya Bhadrabāhu uses the sum of a geometric series in his Kalpasūtra in 433 B.C. In
Indian mathematics
Indian mathematics emerged in the Indian subcontinent from 1200 BCE until the end of the 18th century. In the classical period of Indian mathematics (400 CE to 1200 CE), important contributions were made by scholars like Aryabhata, Brahmagupta ...
, particular instances of arithmetic series have been found to implicitly occur in Vedic Literature as early as 2000 B.C.
Medieval
Zu Chongzhi established a method that would later be called
Cavalieri's principle
In geometry, Cavalieri's principle, a modern implementation of the method of indivisibles, named after Bonaventura Cavalieri, is as follows:
* 2-dimensional case: Suppose two regions in a plane are included between two parallel lines in that pl ...
to find the volume of a
sphere in the 5th century. In the 12th century, the
Indian mathematician Bhāskara II
Bhāskara II (c. 1114–1185), also known as Bhāskarāchārya ("Bhāskara, the teacher"), and as Bhāskara II to avoid confusion with Bhāskara I, was an Indian mathematician and astronomer. From verses, in his main work, Siddhānta Shiroman ...
gave examples of
derivatives and used what is now known as
Rolle's theorem
In calculus, Rolle's theorem or Rolle's lemma essentially states that any real-valued differentiable function that attains equal values at two distinct points must have at least one stationary point somewhere between them—that is, a point wher ...
.
In the 14th century,
Madhava of Sangamagrama developed
infinite series expansions, now called
Taylor series, of functions such as
sine
In mathematics, sine and cosine are trigonometric functions of an angle. The sine and cosine of an acute angle are defined in the context of a right triangle: for the specified angle, its sine is the ratio of the length of the side that is oppo ...
,
cosine,
tangent and
arctangent
In mathematics, the inverse trigonometric functions (occasionally also called arcus functions, antitrigonometric functions or cyclometric functions) are the inverse functions of the trigonometric functions (with suitably restricted domains). Spec ...
.
[
] Alongside his development of Taylor series of
trigonometric functions, he also estimated the magnitude of the error terms resulting of truncating these series, and gave a rational approximation of some infinite series. His followers at the
Kerala School of Astronomy and Mathematics further expanded his works, up to the 16th century.
Modern
Foundations
The modern foundations of mathematical analysis were established in 17th century Europe.
[ This began when Fermat and Descartes developed ]analytic geometry
In classical mathematics, analytic geometry, also known as coordinate geometry or Cartesian geometry, is the study of geometry using a coordinate system. This contrasts with synthetic geometry.
Analytic geometry is used in physics and engineerin ...
, which is the precursor to modern calculus. Fermat's method of adequality allowed him to determine the maxima and minima of functions and the tangents of curves. Descartes's publication of ''La Géométrie
''La Géométrie'' was published in 1637 as an appendix to ''Discours de la méthode'' (''Discourse on the Method''), written by René Descartes. In the ''Discourse'', he presents his method for obtaining clarity on any subject. ''La Géométrie ...
'' in 1637, which introduced the Cartesian coordinate system
A Cartesian coordinate system (, ) in a plane is a coordinate system that specifies each point uniquely by a pair of numerical coordinates, which are the signed distances to the point from two fixed perpendicular oriented lines, measured in t ...
, is considered to be the establishment of mathematical analysis. It would be a few decades later that Newton
Newton most commonly refers to:
* Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist
* Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton
Newton may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film
* Newton ( ...
and Leibniz independently developed infinitesimal calculus
Calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of infinitesimals", is the mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithm ...
, which grew, with the stimulus of applied work that continued through the 18th century, into analysis topics such as the calculus of variations
The calculus of variations (or Variational Calculus) is a field of mathematical analysis that uses variations, which are small changes in functions
and functionals, to find maxima and minima of functionals: mappings from a set of functions t ...
, ordinary
Ordinary or The Ordinary often refer to:
Music
* ''Ordinary'' (EP) (2015), by South Korean group Beast
* ''Ordinary'' (Every Little Thing album) (2011)
* "Ordinary" (Two Door Cinema Club song) (2016)
* "Ordinary" (Wayne Brady song) (2008)
* ...
and partial differential equation
In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which imposes relations between the various partial derivatives of a Multivariable calculus, multivariable function.
The function is often thought of as an "unknown" to be sol ...
s, Fourier analysis
In mathematics, Fourier analysis () is the study of the way general functions may be represented or approximated by sums of simpler trigonometric functions. Fourier analysis grew from the study of Fourier series, and is named after Josep ...
, and generating function
In mathematics, a generating function is a way of encoding an infinite sequence of numbers () by treating them as the coefficients of a formal power series. This series is called the generating function of the sequence. Unlike an ordinary seri ...
s. During this period, calculus techniques were applied to approximate discrete problems by continuous ones.
Modernization
In the 18th century, Euler
Leonhard Euler ( , ; 15 April 170718 September 1783) was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician and engineer who founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made pioneering and influential discoveries in ma ...
introduced the notion of mathematical function. Real analysis began to emerge as an independent subject when Bernard Bolzano introduced the modern definition of continuity in 1816, but Bolzano's work did not become widely known until the 1870s. In 1821, Cauchy began to put calculus on a firm logical foundation by rejecting the principle of the generality of algebra widely used in earlier work, particularly by Euler. Instead, Cauchy formulated calculus in terms of geometric ideas and infinitesimal
In mathematics, an infinitesimal number is a quantity that is closer to zero than any standard real number, but that is not zero. The word ''infinitesimal'' comes from a 17th-century Modern Latin coinage ''infinitesimus'', which originally referr ...
s. Thus, his definition of continuity required an infinitesimal change in ''x'' to correspond to an infinitesimal change in ''y''. He also introduced the concept of the Cauchy sequence, and started the formal theory of complex analysis
Complex analysis, traditionally known as the theory of functions of a complex variable, is the branch of mathematical analysis that investigates Function (mathematics), functions of complex numbers. It is helpful in many branches of mathemati ...
. Poisson, Liouville, Fourier and others studied partial differential equations and harmonic analysis
Harmonic analysis is a branch of mathematics concerned with the representation of Function (mathematics), functions or signals as the Superposition principle, superposition of basic waves, and the study of and generalization of the notions of Fo ...
. The contributions of these mathematicians and others, such as Weierstrass, developed the (ε, δ)-definition of limit
Although the function (sin ''x'')/''x'' is not defined at zero, as ''x'' becomes closer and closer to zero, (sin ''x'')/''x'' becomes arbitrarily close to 1. In other words, the limit of (sin ''x'')/''x'', as ''x'' approaches z ...
approach, thus founding the modern field of mathematical analysis. Around the same time, Riemann introduced his theory of integration, and made significant advances in complex analysis.
Towards the end of the 19th century, mathematicians started worrying that they were assuming the existence of a continuum of real numbers without proof. Dedekind then constructed the real numbers by Dedekind cuts, in which irrational numbers are formally defined, which serve to fill the "gaps" between rational numbers, thereby creating a complete set: the continuum of real numbers, which had already been developed by Simon Stevin
Simon Stevin (; 1548–1620), sometimes called Stevinus, was a Flemish mathematician, scientist and music theorist. He made various contributions in many areas of science and engineering, both theoretical and practical. He also translated vario ...
in terms of decimal expansions. Around that time, the attempts to refine the theorems of Riemann integration led to the study of the "size" of the set of discontinuities of real functions.
Also, various pathological objects, (such as nowhere continuous functions, continuous but nowhere differentiable functions, and space-filling curves), commonly known as "monsters", began to be investigated. In this context, Jordan developed his theory of measure, Cantor developed what is now called naive set theory
Naive set theory is any of several theories of sets used in the discussion of the foundations of mathematics.
Unlike Set theory#Axiomatic set theory, axiomatic set theories, which are defined using Mathematical_logic#Formal_logical_systems, forma ...
, and Baire proved the Baire category theorem
The Baire category theorem (BCT) is an important result in general topology and functional analysis. The theorem has two forms, each of which gives sufficient conditions for a topological space to be a Baire space (a topological space such that the ...
. In the early 20th century, calculus was formalized using an axiomatic set theory. Lebesgue greatly improved measure theory, and introduced his own theory of integration, now known as Lebesgue integration, which proved to be a big improvement over Riemann's. Hilbert introduced Hilbert space
In mathematics, Hilbert spaces (named after David Hilbert) allow generalizing the methods of linear algebra and calculus from (finite-dimensional) Euclidean vector spaces to spaces that may be infinite-dimensional. Hilbert spaces arise natural ...
s to solve integral equations. The idea of normed vector space was in the air, and in the 1920s Banach created functional analysis.
Important concepts
Metric spaces
In mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
, a metric space is a set where a notion of distance (called a metric) between elements of the set is defined.
Much of analysis happens in some metric space; the most commonly used are the real line
In elementary mathematics, a number line is a picture of a graduated straight line (geometry), line that serves as visual representation of the real numbers. Every point of a number line is assumed to correspond to a real number, and every real ...
, the complex plane
In mathematics, the complex plane is the plane formed by the complex numbers, with a Cartesian coordinate system such that the -axis, called the real axis, is formed by the real numbers, and the -axis, called the imaginary axis, is formed by the ...
, Euclidean space, other vector spaces, and the integers. Examples of analysis without a metric include measure theory
In mathematics, the concept of a measure is a generalization and formalization of geometrical measures ( length, area, volume) and other common notions, such as mass and probability of events. These seemingly distinct concepts have many simil ...
(which describes size rather than distance) and functional analysis (which studies topological vector spaces that need not have any sense of distance).
Formally, a metric space is an ordered pair
In mathematics, an ordered pair (''a'', ''b'') is a pair of objects. The order in which the objects appear in the pair is significant: the ordered pair (''a'', ''b'') is different from the ordered pair (''b'', ''a'') unless ''a'' = ''b''. (In con ...
where is a set and is a metric on , i.e., a function
:
such that for any , the following holds:
# , with equality if and only if ('' identity of indiscernibles''),
# (''symmetry''), and
# ('' triangle inequality'').
By taking the third property and letting , it can be shown that (''non-negative'').
Sequences and limits
A sequence is an ordered list. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). Unlike a set, order matters, and exactly the same elements can appear multiple times at different positions in the sequence. Most precisely, a sequence can be defined as a function whose domain is a countable totally ordered set, such as the natural numbers
In mathematics, the natural numbers are those numbers used for counting (as in "there are ''six'' coins on the table") and ordering (as in "this is the ''third'' largest city in the country").
Numbers used for counting are called ''cardinal n ...
.
One of the most important properties of a sequence is ''convergence''. Informally, a sequence converges if it has a ''limit''. Continuing informally, a ( singly-infinite) sequence has a limit if it approaches some point ''x'', called the limit, as ''n'' becomes very large. That is, for an abstract sequence (''a''''n'') (with ''n'' running from 1 to infinity understood) the distance between ''a''''n'' and ''x'' approaches 0 as ''n'' → ∞, denoted
:
Main branches
Real analysis
Real analysis (traditionally, the theory of functions of a real variable) is a branch of mathematical analysis dealing with the real numbers and real-valued functions of a real variable. In particular, it deals with the analytic properties of real functions and sequences, including convergence and limits of sequences of real numbers, the calculus of the real numbers, and continuity, smoothness
In mathematical analysis, the smoothness of a function is a property measured by the number of continuous derivatives it has over some domain, called ''differentiability class''. At the very minimum, a function could be considered smooth if it ...
and related properties of real-valued functions.
Complex analysis
Complex analysis (traditionally known as the theory of functions of a complex variable) is the branch of mathematical analysis that investigates functions of complex numbers. It is useful in many branches of mathematics, including algebraic geometry
Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics, classically studying zeros of multivariate polynomials. Modern algebraic geometry is based on the use of abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, for solving geometrical ...
, number theory, applied mathematics; as well as in physics, including hydrodynamics
In physics and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids—liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including ''aerodynamics'' (the study of air and other gases in motion) and ...
, thermodynamics, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
, and particularly, quantum field theory
In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines classical field theory, special relativity, and quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct physical models of subatomic particles and ...
.
Complex analysis is particularly concerned with the analytic functions of complex variables (or, more generally, meromorphic functions). Because the separate real and imaginary parts of any analytic function must satisfy Laplace's equation
In mathematics and physics, Laplace's equation is a second-order partial differential equation named after Pierre-Simon Laplace, who first studied its properties. This is often written as
\nabla^2\! f = 0 or \Delta f = 0,
where \Delta = \nab ...
, complex analysis is widely applicable to two-dimensional problems in physics.
Functional analysis
Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure (e.g. inner product, norm, topology, etc.) and the linear operators acting upon these spaces and respecting these structures in a suitable sense. The historical roots of functional analysis lie in the study of spaces of functions and the formulation of properties of transformations of functions such as the Fourier transform
A Fourier transform (FT) is a mathematical transform that decomposes functions into frequency components, which are represented by the output of the transform as a function of frequency. Most commonly functions of time or space are transformed, ...
as transformations defining continuous, unitary etc. operators between function spaces. This point of view turned out to be particularly useful for the study of differential and integral equations.
Harmonic analysis
Harmonic analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis concerned with the representation of functions and signals as the superposition of basic waves. This includes the study of the notions of Fourier series
A Fourier series () is a summation of harmonically related sinusoidal functions, also known as components or harmonics. The result of the summation is a periodic function whose functional form is determined by the choices of cycle length (or ''p ...
and Fourier transform
A Fourier transform (FT) is a mathematical transform that decomposes functions into frequency components, which are represented by the output of the transform as a function of frequency. Most commonly functions of time or space are transformed, ...
s (Fourier analysis
In mathematics, Fourier analysis () is the study of the way general functions may be represented or approximated by sums of simpler trigonometric functions. Fourier analysis grew from the study of Fourier series, and is named after Josep ...
), and of their generalizations. Harmonic analysis has applications in areas as diverse as music theory
Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...
, number theory, representation theory, signal processing, quantum mechanics, tidal analysis, and neuroscience.
Differential equations
A differential equation is a mathematical equation
In mathematics, an equation is a formula that expresses the equality of two expressions, by connecting them with the equals sign . The word ''equation'' and its cognates in other languages may have subtly different meanings; for example, in ...
for an unknown function of one or several variables that relates the values of the function itself and its derivatives of various orders. Differential equations play a prominent role in engineering, physics, economics, biology, and other disciplines.
Differential equations arise in many areas of science and technology, specifically whenever a deterministic
Determinism is a philosophical view, where all events are determined completely by previously existing causes. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes overlapping motives and consi ...
relation involving some continuously varying quantities (modeled by functions) and their rates of change in space or time (expressed as derivatives) is known or postulated. This is illustrated in classical mechanics, where the motion of a body is described by its position and velocity as the time value varies. Newton's laws allow one (given the position, velocity, acceleration and various forces acting on the body) to express these variables dynamically as a differential equation for the unknown position of the body as a function of time. In some cases, this differential equation (called an equation of motion) may be solved explicitly.
Measure theory
A measure on a set is a systematic way to assign a number to each suitable subset
In mathematics, Set (mathematics), set ''A'' is a subset of a set ''B'' if all Element (mathematics), elements of ''A'' are also elements of ''B''; ''B'' is then a superset of ''A''. It is possible for ''A'' and ''B'' to be equal; if they are ...
of that set, intuitively interpreted as its size. In this sense, a measure is a generalization of the concepts of length, area, and volume. A particularly important example is the Lebesgue measure
In measure theory, a branch of mathematics, the Lebesgue measure, named after French mathematician Henri Lebesgue, is the standard way of assigning a measure to subsets of ''n''-dimensional Euclidean space. For ''n'' = 1, 2, or 3, it coincides wit ...
on a Euclidean space, which assigns the conventional length
Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Interna ...
, area, and volume of Euclidean geometry to suitable subsets of the -dimensional Euclidean space . For instance, the Lebesgue measure of the interval