History of Mathematics : Where Does the Mathematical Sign For Infinity Come From?

The mathematical sign for infinity comes from the Latin term for ribbon, lemniscate, and it was developed by John Wallis in 1665. Discover the infinity symbol origin with tips from a mathematics instructor in this free video on math history.

Expert: Steve Jones
Bio: Steve Jones is an experienced mathematics and science teacher.
Filmmaker: Paul Volniansky

[fiestravaganza]

I am here before Youtube algorithms shows this vid to you all, you mortals.

[williamlove]

Information overload! Thanks for the post!

[bad_boy]

Mind blown. The yin and yang have similar qualities and representations.

[Loomr]

I am not sure if you serious but surely you will find it useful to model any quantities in real world that keep on growing boundless. Let's say a computer program that goes on forever - as long as the computer has power and the components keep working, or a program that keeps going on forever and where the number of elementary operations it does continues to grow, causing it to crash when the resources run out. Infinity is a useful concept there, "approaching infinity" etc.

[avinash]

I want to know why is it converging. To origin this symbol is a loop and why if it is infinity

[Icemanactual]

Ok, I am going to take a shot in the dark here and guess that you have never taken integral calculus? Because if you did then you would not be so ignorant of the usefulness of infinite series.

[Ross_Embossed]

Infinitely *continuously & repetitively* long surface

[tonyrosam]

Infinite series.. I love the hypocrisy of such a name for something as logical as math. No one can ever see an entire infinite set so can we call them something else? How about quasi-infinite sets or semi-infinite ? How about douche-bag-I-think-im-God set because I see infinity? Only a fool would believe anything is certain beyond the scope of the universe.