From Review of Bio of Tom Stoppard in SF Chronicle by David Kipen--9/1/02

[Bandwraith at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/4/02 12:49:12 AM, rfiero at pophost.com writes:

<< Better than true. >>

Now I'm getting interested.

<< Zeno's Paradoxes happen in discrete time 
rather than continuous time and defy our expectation that an 
infinite number of little things cannot have a finite sum, or conversely.
It took calculus to sort out notions of force, acceleration and 
momentum and relate them in a coherent way. Calculus is 
mentioned throughout Pynchon's novels. There's at least one 
obvious mention in M&D and I strongly suggest that it's more 
than a display of erudition and is an important feature of the 
time of the M&D story. >>

I think the opening lines of chapter 73:

    As all History must converge... [707.01]

to be especially pertinent here. The infinite progression
of Zeno's paradox is easily represented mathematically.
In general, infinite progressions of this sort are either
convergent- i.e., ever approaching more closely a particular
value (e.g., Falmouth, the warrior path, the top of Pirate's
head, the roof of a certain theater, #2, etc.) or, heading 
off toward infinity, i.e., divergent, depending on the value
of "X" CHOSEN intially. Also, generally, there is an interval, 
e.g., -1< X >1, wherein all values of X will converge, but outside 
this interval, any "preterite" "passed over" values will result 
in divergence toward infinity. The interval  is known as the 
"radius of convergence."

But this is all "Wicksian" modern maths. At the risk of using 
the oft ridiculed term "fractal," a post-linear, "chaotic"
consideration of a complex system- which, no doubt, History
must be- might be seen as encompassing an analogous concept
(loosely) to the magical "radius of convergence," i.e., "basin
of attraction," surrounding a Strange Attractor.

More later. The key notion is that the developement of the
calculus, the tools (remember Dixon's earlier Hammer quote)
of modern analysis, and hence, the resolution of Zeno's Doxies
were accompanied by the feeling that those doing the analyzing
were in a position of objectivity, i.e., could pick and choose the
values of "X" to be studied, and use the results to control the 
outcome- i.e., what (and who) were within, and what without any
circles, radiant or otherwise, which might result.

regards