Publication Date

1961

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Beach, James W.||Miller, Herbert (Professor of mathematics)

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Mathematics

LCSH

Calculus

Abstract

This paper tries to show that as soon as mathematicians began to concern themselves with the problems of motion, they found themselves severly handicapped by the Arabic Algebra, which devised its principles from classical geometry. In intellectual, as well as political enterprises, numerous forces and numerous individual contributions determine the outcome. For example; Galileo did not fashion the quantitative approach to modern science single-handed. Similarly, the calculus is almost as much the creation of Eudoxes, Archimedes, and a dozen others of the seventeenth century, as it is that of Newton and Leibniz. It is especially true of mathematics that while the creative work is done by Individuals, the results are the fruits of centuries of thought and development. This paper attempts to illustrate the problems and partial solutions that were tried, until, at last, the scientists devised a new instrument of calculation: the Infinitesimal Calculus. For certain purposes, other methods yield results which are more in accordance with the facts, but the Newtonian methods remain, and will long remain, the basis of calculations in natural science.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

49 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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