A History of Russian Philosophy

The problem of approximating a given quantity is one of the oldest challenges faced by mathematicians. Its increasing importance in contemporary mathematics has created an entirely new area known as Approximation Theory. The modern theory was initially developed along two divergent schools of thought: the Eastern or Russian group, employing almost exclusively algebraic methods, was headed by Chebyshev together with his coterie at the Saint Petersburg Mathematical School, while the Western mathematicians, adopting a more analytical approach, included Weierstrass, Hilbert, Klein, and others.