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Fromtheauthor
Thebookwaswrittenintheeightiesofthelastcentury.Beingencour-
agedbytheeditorialboardofmonthlyDeltainthepersonofProfessorMarek
Kordos,theauthor3sfirstaimwasacollectionofessaysaboutPeanomaps,
lakesofWada,andseveralsingularitiesofrealfunctions.Butitwasthetime
whenuniversitydutiesstoppedandtheauthorcouldfreelymeditatewhether
thiscuriousmathematicshaditsrootsintheforgottenpast.Herememberedold
authorswhobegantheirbookswiththewords“alreadytheancientGreeks….”
Thecelebratednineteenthcentury,thecenturyofconcepts,waspreceded
bythecenturyofcalculations.GoingfurtherbackwecanseeNewton,but
whatandwhowastherebefore?WerethecenturiesbetweentheAncientsand
Newtonavacuuminmathematicalsciences?Accidentally,thetreatiseDecon-
tinuobyThomasBradwardine,theArchbishopofCanterbury,ledtheauthor
intoanunknownandstrangeworldofmedievalscholasticthought,showing
tohimthelostthreadjoiningourtimeswithZeno,AristotleandDemocritus.
However,tofindthisforgottenlinkastepshouldbetakenbeyondpure
mathematicalthinking.Inthisextendedsurroundingwecanobservetheunity
ofmathematicalconceptsbeingnon-existentintherealmofpuremathematics.
ThetranslationintoEnglishisagiftfromProfessorAbeShenitzer.Al-
thoughthetranslationrunsascloselyaspossibletothePolishoriginaltext,
theauthorhasarighttoregardthebookasajointworkwiththeTranslator.
Thefirstchapteroftheoriginaltext,accordingtoTranslator3ssuggestion,was
“somewhatbafflingforreading.”Thatiswhytheauthordecidednottoenclose
itintheEnglishversionandconsequentlythenumerationofchaptersisshifted
byonewithrespecttothePolishedition.
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