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Ideas of Karl Weierstrass, by Text

[German, 1815 - 1897, A school teacher.]

1855 works
p.98 Weierstrass made limits central, but the existence of limits still needed to be proved
     Full Idea: After Weierstrass had stressed the importance of limits, one now needed to be able to prove the existence of such limits.
     From: report of Karl Weierstrass (works [1855]) by David Bostock - Philosophy of Mathematics 4.4
     A reaction: The solution to this is found in work on series (going back to Cauchy), and on Dedekind's cuts.
p.259 Weierstrass eliminated talk of infinitesimals
     Full Idea: Weierstrass effectively eliminated the infinitesimalist language of his predecessors.
     From: report of Karl Weierstrass (works [1855]) by Philip Kitcher - The Nature of Mathematical Knowledge 10.6