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Jordan McCall
Fundamentals of Math I
Rosentrater
November 11, 2014
Our Dear Friend Georg Cantor
Mathematics has been a subject that has survived and thrived throughout the ages. From
the Egyptian numeration system, to the requirement of Common Core Mathematics in most math
classrooms today, math has been influential in various societal circumstances and has found its
way into the heart of every classroom across the world. Without the great minds of influential
mathematicians, both past and present, the beauty of mathematics would not be opened up for
others to discover. As Edward Frenkel, the author of Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden
Reality writes, When I was growing up, I wasnt aware of the hidden world of mathematics.
Like most people, I thought math was a stale, boring subject, But I was lucky...I learned that
mathematics is full of infinite possibilities as well as elegance and beauty, just like poetry, art,
and music. I fell in love with math (Frenkel 3). Mathematics is a way to dive into the unknown
but receive a finite and long-lasting outcome. For example, 2 + 2 will always equal four, but why
exactly is that the answer? The answer to that long-lasting question will always remain the same
as a finite possibility. Without the skilled minds of past mathematicians, the unknown worlds of
equations, sets, logic, and other mathematical characteristics would remain foreign to the people
of todays world. Without them, people would not know the Why? behind most mathematical
properties. One of the most remarkable mathematicians of the ages was Georg Cantor, the man
behind transfinite set theory (James 208). Ultimately, Cantors thoughts and controversial

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discoveries has had great influence on the mathematical world. He has left a lasting influence on
the study and subject of math far beyond his timely death in 1918.
Born in the country of Russia, Cantor thrived as a young violinist (The Story of
Mathematics). In his later years, he would become a controversial mathematicians that proposed
mathematical ideas that were regarded as extremely controversial in his day and age (James
208). Cantors monumental discoveries would revolutionize the math world leaving a lasting
influence on math procedures even to this day. Cantor stated that, The essence of mathematics
lies in its freedom (Frenkel 4). Through this freedom, Cantor was able to come up with ideas
and properties that would forever change the math world. In the beginning of Cantors
mathematical discoveries, it was not yet known whether or not the real numbers were
countable (James 210). This topic became a main focus for Cantors findings.
Aiding in his discoveries, Cantor went on to develop his increasingly revolutionary
ideas in a series of papers published between 1879 and 1884 on what we now call transfinite set
theory (James 211). Cantors main legacy is... [that he was the]... first mathematician to really
understand the meaning of infinity and to give it mathematical precision (The Story of
Mathematicians). Cantor was the first mathematician to brave the idea of and actually prove the
existence of infinity (The Story of Mathematicians). He came up with a property that is
represented in this definition: A set is called infinite if it can be put into one-to-onecorrespondence with a proper subset of itself (Rosentrater 72). An example of Cantors one-toone correspondence can be depicted in the following problem below. Ultimately, the problem
below showcases that for the set N of natural numbers 1, 2, 3,...and the set E of even
numbers...such a correspondence exists (Meschkowski 92).

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10

12 .

In the picture above, a one-to-one correspondence is represented between the two sets of natural
numbers and even numbers. With his discoveries, Cantor was able to prove that the two sets
above are equivalent to each other, despite the surprising nature of this property. Cantor also
went on to, prove that the set of subsets of a set always had larger size than the original
set...When this is applied to infinite sets, however, it implies that there is an unending chain of
ever larger sizes of infinite sets! (Rosentrater 77). This idea of constructing something that is
not an output can be seen in the diagram below from Be Curious About Science.

In this image, the diagonal arrow represents the aspect that can be created that fails to be an
output between the sets. This diagram ultimately proves the validity of Cantors argument in
relation to infinitive set characteristics.
The main contribution that Cantor had on the math world was tackling a complex idea
that many had avoided before, even the likes of Galileo (The Story of Mathematics). This
discovery can be depicted in the idea that the the set of natural numbers and the set of even
natural numbers have the same size (Rosentrater 77). People of Cantors time were shocked that
such a conclusion could be reached. Many people began to oppose Cantors work, such as a

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notable mathematician named Kronecker (James 212). It is important to remember that,
Cantor's [work] between 1874 and 1884 marks the real origin of set theory, which has since
become a fundamental part of modern mathematics, and its basic concepts are used throughout
all the various branches of mathematics (The Story of Mathematics). The idea of number sets
had been around for years but was only contained within finite sets (The Story of Mathematics).
Cantor was the first to show that, there could be infinite sets of different sizes, some of which
are countable and some of which are uncountable (The Story of Mathematics). Since the topic
and discoveries that Cantor made were revolutionary, people of his time questioned his
discoveries.
Cantor would later find support from mathematicians after the publication of his work
titled, Beitrage, in 1895 (James 213). In this two-part piece of work, Cantor considered
questions, such as the Axiom of Choice, simply ordered sets, and well-ordered sets (James 213).
After this publication of his work, Cantors ideas became widely known and circulated among
mathematicians the world over (James 213). Similarly, younger mathematicians began to arise
and support Cantor and his crusade against Kronecker-like discontent (James 214). Other
mathematicians like, David Hilbert believed Cantor had created a new mathematical paradise
(Boyd). In due time, recognition that Cantor had contributed something of lasting significance
to the world of mathematics had been achieved. Mathematics was never to be the same again
(The Story of Mathematics). Despite the initial skepticism from the majority, Cantor was able to
put his own stamp of ideas on the world of mathematics. With this, he can be noted as one of the
most influential mathematicians to ever dive into the challenging and infinite world of
mathematical discoveries.

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Shortly after his notable discoveries, Cantors life would take a turn for the worse.
Cantor, like many exceptionally gifted people...suffered from depressions (James 214). It was
believed that his manic depression could possibly be related to constant contemplation of such
complex, abstract and paradoxical concepts (The Story of Mathematics). He began to receive
...further criticism by veering into domains other than math. He wrote extensively in support of
the theory that Shakespeares plays actually had been authored by Francis Bacon[and]...Cantor
[also] wrote a dialogue between a master and his pupil in which the master argues that Joseph of
Arimathea had fathered Chris (Boyd). Possibly plagued by his own ideas, Cantor died at the
psychiatric hospital in Halle on January 6, 1918 at the age of seventy-three (James 214).
Despite his timely death, Georg Cantor would still leave a lasting impression on the
mathematical world due to his revolutionary ideas and notable discoveries.
Georg Cantor left a notable stigma on the subject and study of math because he was a
man who dared look upon the face of the infinite (Boyd). Cantors biggest contribution was
creating a precedent to not fear the unknown, such as the idea of infinity, and instead think,
discover, and make sense of something that may be feared. Cantor can also be seen as a person of
inspiration for past, current, and future mathematicians to come. Ultimately, he was able to
accurately display the notion that, mathematics is a way to break the barriers of the
conventional, an expression of unbounded imagination in the search for truth (Frenkel 4).
Iroincally, the vast complexies and studies of math be characteristized into one stimple
statement: as Buzz Lightyear infamously states, To infinity and beyond (Oh My Disney). Well
Buzz, you can have Cantor to thank for that.

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Works Cited
"A Buzz Lightyear Quote for Every Situation - Disney Blogs." Disney Blogs. N.p., n.d. Web. 10
Nov. 2014.
Beards, Michael. Digital image. Be Curious About Science. N.p., n.d. Web.
Bell, Eric Temple. Men of Mathematics. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1937. Print.
Boyd, Andrew. "No. 2859: The Mind of Georg Cantor." No. 2859: The Mind of Georg Cantor.
Engines of Our Ingenuity, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
Century Mathematics - The Story of Mathematics. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2014.

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Frenkel, Edward. Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality. New York: Basic, 2013. Print.
James, Ioan M. Remarkable Mathematicians: From Euler to Von Neumann. Washington, DC:
Mathematical Association of America, 2002. Print.
Mastin, Luke. "Cantor - 19th Century Mathematics - The Story of Mathematics."Cantor - 19th
Meschkowski, Hebert. Ways of Thought of Great Mathematicians. San Francisco:
Holden-Day, 1964. Print.

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