Smallness and infinity in mathematics : an intuitive approach

The widespread availability of pocket calculators has widened the domain of possible investigations at certain levels in mathematics, in the secondary school classroom no less than in the university lecture-room. Most school boys and girls use the calculator and many of them may have asked what is the meaning of the letter e which appears on the key ex. This article is intended to explain the background which is necessary to understand the meaning of e and it is hoped that the numerical value of 2.718 assigned to e will no longer remain mysterious to readers who are non mathematicians. A knowledge of the realistic fractions e.g. that 1/6 is less than 1/4 , is the kind of mathematics required to follow the discussion.peer-reviewe