Draft:Finiteness
| Submission declined on 13 April 2025 by AllCatsAreGrey (talk). Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and not a dictionary. We cannot accept articles that are little more than definitions of words or abbreviations as entries. A good article should begin with a good definition, but expand on the subject. You might try creating a definition for this instead at Wiktionary, which is a dictionary. Please only do so if it meets that sister project's criteria for inclusion. These require among others, attestation for the word or phrase, as verified through clear widespread use, or its use in permanently recorded media, conveying meaning, in at least three independent instances spanning at least a year.
Where to get help
How to improve a draft
You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article. Improving your odds of a speedy review To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags. Editor resources
|  |
| Submission declined on 14 March 2025 by WeirdNAnnoyed (talk). Please see WP:NOTDICT and WP:ESSAY. This is just a definition and list of examples. We need sources that discuss finiteness as a unitary, overriding concept (beyond just a definition). Declined by WeirdNAnnoyed 30 days ago. | |
| Submission declined on 6 February 2025 by KylieTastic (talk). Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and not a dictionary. We cannot accept articles that are little more than definitions of words or abbreviations as entries. A good article should begin with a good definition, but expand on the subject. You might try creating a definition for this instead at Wiktionary, which is a dictionary. Please only do so if it meets that sister project's criteria for inclusion. These require among others, attestation for the word or phrase, as verified through clear widespread use, or its use in permanently recorded media, conveying meaning, in at least three independent instances spanning at least a year. Declined by KylieTastic 2 months ago. | |
| Submission declined on 5 February 2025 by Samoht27 (talk). Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and not a dictionary. We cannot accept articles that are little more than definitions of words or abbreviations as entries. A good article should begin with a good definition, but expand on the subject. You might try creating a definition for this instead at Wiktionary, which is a dictionary. Please only do so if it meets that sister project's criteria for inclusion. These require among others, attestation for the word or phrase, as verified through clear widespread use, or its use in permanently recorded media, conveying meaning, in at least three independent instances spanning at least a year. Declined by Samoht27 2 months ago. | |
| Submission declined on 31 January 2025 by KylieTastic (talk). This submission reads more like an essay than an encyclopedia article. Submissions should summarise information in secondary, reliable sources and not contain opinions or original research. Please write about the topic from a neutral point of view in an encyclopedic manner. Declined by KylieTastic 2 months ago. | |
Comment: You have not made any changes addressing the concerns of previous reviews. Please refrain from resubmitting until you have done so. – AllCatsAreGrey (talk) 19:43, 13 April 2025 (UTC)
- Comment: Totally inappropriate for an encyclopaedia, you are wasting everybody's time including your own. Theroadislong (talk) 16:03, 21 March 2025 (UTC)
- Comment: Partly this is a dictionary definition - which is not the purpose of Wikipedia. Also just a random set of dubious points without sources. KylieTastic (talk) 12:24, 6 February 2025 (UTC)
- Comment: This is a dictionary definition of finite -Samoht27 (talk) 17:58, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
Finiteness is the state of being limited or ended. Humans are considered to be in this state because of their limited life span.[1] Natural numbers are considered to be in this state because counting to a natural number comes to an end, such as the number of months in a year.
Whether or not something comes to an end is not always self-evident. In writing, a full stop unambiguously denotes the end, or completion, of a sentence. An ellipsis denotes a lack of completion.[2] A controversial use of ellipses is to simultaneously intend both completion and non-completion, as in 0.999... = 1.[3]
Coming to an end, such as a person dying, or a sentence being completed, is one of the two aspects of the state of finiteness. The other aspect is to be limited. Limitations, bounds, and constraints play a significant role in science and everyday life, such as error bounds and seat belts.
Because so much of the human experience is in the state of finiteness, it is normal to assume the state as a given. For example, although the number one is a finite number we normally do not distinguish it as such.
Although normally assumed, finiteness is sometimes specified. Such specification is common when referring to sums in the state of finiteness, to distinguish them from those which are not. The term finite is used to specify finiteness of a sum, but so also is the term partial.
A famous finite sum is the Riemann sum, named after Bernhard Riemann who used it to rigorously define the integral.
In 1847, George Boole used lower case to denote finiteness in his essay on the mathematical analysis of logic.[4] Boole called these lowercase letters elective symbols. A capital letter was used to represent a class and individuals belonging to the class. For example, X represents the class animals. Sometimes, the capital letter was written in the plural, Xs, referring specifically to individuals belonging to the class. Both X and Xs refer to members of the class separately, rather than collectively. The lowercase x refers collectively to selected individuals belonging to the class. Such an elective symbol denotes an elected, selected, collected whole.
Today, the term finite set is used to refer to what Boole described as a collection of objects, and denoted with a lowercase letter.
References
[edit]- ^ Carey JR (2003). Longevity. The biology and Demography of Life Span. Princeton University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv18zhf9v. ISBN 0-691-08848-9. JSTOR j.ctv18zhf9v. OCLC 1231563351.
- ^ "University of Oxford Style Guide: Hilary term 2016" (PDF). Oxford: University of Oxford. 2016. p. 15. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
- ^ Byers, William (2007). How Mathematicians Think: Using Ambiguity, Contradiction, and Paradox to Create Mathematics. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-12738-5.
- ^ George Boole, The Mathematical Analysis of Logic, Being an Essay towards a Calculus of Deductive Reasoning Archived 11 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine (London, England: Macmillan, Barclay, & Macmillan, 1847).