- #36
Deveno
Science Advisor
Gold Member
MHB
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pwsnafu said:Before one can do that you need to define the problem of finding "area of a circle" without analysis.
if by this question, you mean: "what is 'area' "? then i agree.
the most delicate and complicated mechanisms underlie our spatial notions of "n-dimensional content" (length/area/volume/etc.). it is not immediately clear that a region has such a number associated with it (i can think of some very bizzarre regions in the plane), nor is it clear how to find a coordinates-free method of assigning such a number.
the answer (if i recall correctly) has something to do with pull-backs, determinants and n-chains. and even this appeals (at some level) to assigning "1" to some basic figure (a unit interval, disk/square, ball/cube, etc.).
frankly, i am quite impressed that people even decided (long before calculus came around) that the circumference of a circle was rectifiable.