Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal Volume 22 Issue 1 Article 1 Irrational Philosophy? Kronecker's Constructive Philosophy and Finding the Real Roots of a Polynomial Richard B. Schneider University of Missouri - Kansas City,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.rose-hulman.edu/rhumj Part of the Analysis Commons, European History Commons, and the Intellectual History Commons Recommended Citation Schneider, Richard B. (2021) "Irrational Philosophy? Kronecker's Constructive Philosophy and Finding the Real Roots of a Polynomial," Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal: Vol. 22 : Iss. 1 , Article 1. Available at: https://scholar.rose-hulman.edu/rhumj/vol22/iss1/1 Irrational Philosophy? Kronecker's Constructive Philosophy and Finding the Real Roots of a Polynomial Cover Page Footnote The author would like to thank Dr. Richard Delaware for his guidance and support throughout the completion of this work. This article is available in Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal: https://scholar.rose-hulman.edu/rhumj/ vol22/iss1/1 Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal VOLUME 22, ISSUE 1, 2021 Irrational Philosophy? Kronecker’s Constructive Philosophy and Finding the Real Roots of a Polynomial By Richard B. Schneider Abstract. The prominent mathematician Leopold Kronecker (1823 – 1891) is often rel- egated to footnotes and mainly remembered for his strict philosophical position on the foundation of mathematics. He held that only the natural numbers are intuitive, thus the only basis for all mathematical objects. In fact, Kronecker developed a complete school of thought on mathematical foundations and wrote many significant algebraic works, but his enigmatic writing style led to his historical marginalization.