text: Well, maybe not what it is *all* about That's a rather large topic.\n\nIn discrete math, numbers are restricted to certain values or, another way of saying the same thing, there is a finite difference between the numbers that can exist. Contrast this with a continuous number system, in which, for any two numbers that are not equal, you can find infinitely many numbers that lie between them in value.\n\nFor example,  the integers are a discrete number system, whereas the reals are a continuous number system.\n\nComputer math is inherently discrete, although it can in many cases form a useful approximation to a continuous system.\n\nThe series that you mention have been developed for continuous number systems, but I believe they have analogues for discrete systems.