Who Coined the Term "Improper" Integral?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the origin of the term "Improper" Integral, specifically who coined it and the reasoning behind the choice of the word "improper." Participants explore the etymology and historical context of the term within mathematics.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Historical

Main Points Raised

  • One participant inquires about the origin of the term "Improper" Integral and its etymology, expressing difficulty in finding information.
  • Another participant suggests that the term "improper" may refer to the integral not being a proper integral, as it involves an integrand that is not defined on the closed interval of integration.
  • A third participant speculates that the term may have been coined by Lebesgue, noting that his name appears frequently in searches related to the topic, while also acknowledging that the actual coiner might be a later mathematician who popularized the concept.
  • There is a reference to historical instances in mathematics where earlier discoveries were attributed to later figures, exemplified by the mention of Gauss and Newton.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on who specifically coined the term "Improper" Integral, and multiple viewpoints regarding its origin and meaning are presented.

Contextual Notes

The discussion lacks definitive sources or citations regarding the etymology of the term and relies on participant speculation and historical anecdotes.

sbcdave
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Does anyone know who coined the term "Improper" Integral, and why they chose the word improper? I couldn't find anything on the etymology of it via searching here or searching google, duckduckgo, and yahoo. Thanks for any info or direction to info.
 
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sbcdave said:
Does anyone know who coined the term "Improper" Integral, and why they chose the word improper?
Don't know who coined it, but they chose "improper" I suppose because it wasn't a proper integral; i.e., one where the integrand was defined on the closed interval represented in the limits of integration.
sbcdave said:
I couldn't find anything on the etymology of it via searching here or searching google, duckduckgo, and yahoo. Thanks for any info or direction to info.
 
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If I had to guess I'd say Lebesque. His name comes up when you search it more than Cauchy or Riemann. However, like a lot of math the coiner is some later mathematical descendent who rediscovers and popularizes the work and coins some key ideas in the process.
 
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jedishrfu said:
However, like a lot of math the coiner is some later mathematical descendent who rediscovers and popularizes the work and coins some key ideas in the process.

So true. Like Gauss' law. Which Newton discovered, in principle, 100 years before Gauss, and someone else probably discovered before Newton.

Thank for the replies.
 

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