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Mikhail Katz
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What are the advantages of the more abstract approaches to NSA?

This question does not concern the comparative merits of standard (SA) and nonstandard (NSA) analysis but rather a comparison of different approaches to NSA. What are the concrete advantages of the abstract approaches to NSA (e.g., via the compactness theorem), as compared to the more concrete approach using ultrapowers? One can name generic reasons such as naturality, functoriality, categoricity, etc., but I am hoping for a concrete illustration of why a more abstract approach may be advantageous for understanding NSA concepts and/or proving theorems.

Note 1. One of the existing answers provided a bit of information about advantages of the more abstract approach in terms of saturation. I would appreciate an elaboration of this if possible.

Mikhail Katz
  • 16.6k
  • 2
  • 54
  • 127