[FOM] 605: Integer and Real Functions

[mlink at math.bu.edu]

Dear Professor Tait,

Yes, maybe so: in Bos 2001 there appears a construction like this
due to Descartes.


Bos, Henk J.M.  2001.  Redefining Geometrical Exactness.
Descartes' Transformation of the Early Modern Concept of
Construction.  New York:  Springer.  

--ml




On 9/3/2015 9:37 PM, WILLIAM TAIT wrote:
On Sep 3, 2015, at 8:22 AM, John Baldwin <jbaldwin at uic.edu>
wrote:\

Hilbert proved that in any Euclidean field one can define a
multiplication by similarity of triangle that distributes over
addition. Thus he defines a field of line segments.
but it has fallen into disuse, for good reason.)

Isn't the construction Descartes?