In mathematics, the useful concept of a process with no end. As represented by the symbol ∞, it is often mistakenly thought to be the largest number or a place on the real number line.
Instead, it is the idea of a limit, as in the expression &math.x; → ∞, which suggests that the variable &math.x; increases without bound. For example, the function &math.f;(&math.x;) = 1/&math.x;, or the reciprocal of &math.x;, tends toward 0 as &math.x; approaches infinity as a limit. This process of approaching is crucial to the definition of the derivative and the integral in calculus, as well as to many other concepts of mathematical analysis.
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