Concepts
Surreal Numbers
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The surreal numbers are a number system invented by John Conway, constructed recursively from pairs of earlier formed sets of numbers, that contains the real numbers as well as infinite and infinitesimal numbers. Conway discovered them while analyzing the endgames of Go, and they underlie the value system of combinatorial game theory.
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Surreal numbers form a number system that includes the real numbers as well as infinite and infinitesimal numbers.
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Sources
1. Conway, On Numbers and Games (1976)
John H. Conway, Academic Press, 1976
MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
University of St Andrews, School of Mathematics and StatisticsAssociated With: John Conway, https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Conway/Quote, Associated With: John Conway, https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Conway/
Conway studied the games of two players of Go at Cambridge who were of international standard. He noticed that near the end of a game it appeared like the sum of a lot of smaller games. Analysing the situation Conway discovered that certain games behaved like numbers and surreal numbers were born.
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