Infinity symbol Infinity symbol The infinity symbol (sometimes called the lemniscate) is a mathematical symbol representing the concept of infinity. The shape of a sideways figure eight has a long pedigree; for instance, it appears in the cross of Saint Boniface, wrapped around the bars of a Latin cross. However, John Wallis is credited with introducing the infinity symbol with its mathematical meaning in 1655, in his "De sectionibus conicis". Wallis did not explain his choice of this symbol, but it has been conjectured to be a variant form of a Roman numeral for 1,000 (originally CIƆ, also CƆ), which was sometimes
Actual infinity infinity in "Physics" and in "Metaphysics". He distinguished between "actual" and "potential" infinity. "Actual infinity" is completed and definite, and consists of infinitely many elements. "Potential infinity" is never complete: elements can be always added, but never infinitely many. Aristotle distinguished between infinity with respect to addition and division. "As an example of a potentially infinite series in respect to increase, one number can always be added after another in the series that starts 1,2,3... but the process of adding more and more numbers cannot be exhausted or completed." With respect to division, a potentially infinite sequence of divisions starts