Calculus

Author Kaja Wroblewska
University of Aberdeen Date 6.5.2021

Department of Mathematics
MA2509 Analysis II
The history of calculus
Calculus is one of the basic and most fundamental tools in modern mathematics. Its core
purpose is to study change by analysing infinitely tiny intervals called instantaneous change.
It is based on three main concepts: integrals, derivatives, and the fact that they are opposites.
Thus, it is divided into two fields – differential calculus and integral calculus. It is used in in
every branch of the physical sciences because of its application in determining the outcome
of changing conditions in the investigated system.
In spite of being developed in the 17th century, the foundations for the calculus could be
traced as far back as to ancient Greece, where the “method of exhaustion” was first introduced
by a Greek mathematician Eudoxus in 400BC, and then developed further by Archimedes,
who, by drawing regular polygons inside circles of increasingly higher vertex count so as to
approximate the area of a circle. This was the first step in calculus although it did not require
a clear definition of limits. The resulting mathematical equations were called “heuristics”.
He would go on to use it to find the volume of a sphere or the area under a parabola,
which, according to Archimedes, amounted to 4/3 of the area of the triangle inscribed in this
parabola. It was not much of an elegant way to find areas or volumes of geometric shapes
and solids, but it was practical enough for the time. See [1].
The next breakthrough came in the 17th Century when Italian mathematician Bonaventura
Francesco Cavalieri introduced an improved version of the method of exhaustion called the
“method of indivisibles”. Its modern implementation, known as Cavalieri’s principle, states
that if two solids sitting on the same plane have equal height and cross-sectional area, their
volume must be equal. Bonaventura also invented a Lemma 3 (see [2] p298) which is believed
to be an important precursor to the Mean Value Theorem.
Next came the idea of the derivative which has been discussed by many mathematicians
– such as John Wallis, Blaise Pascal, Pierre de Fermat, Rene Descartes or Isaac Barrow –
among which the two most deserving of attention are Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz. What is particularly interesting among these two is that they’ve developed a very
similar model of calculus equations at the similar time, despite appearing to have worked, for
the most part, independently of one another. See [3].
When Newton was attending Trinity College in Cambridge, it got closed down for some
time as a precaution against the Great Plague of London. At that time, Newton worked
independently on physics problems for which he needed a way to represent movement and
dynamics in mathematics. Building on the work of aforementioned mathematicians, Pierre
de Fermat and Rene Descartes, he came up with what is known as “infinitesimal calculus”,
which was supposed to help him explain the gradual acceleration of a falling object or the
phenomena of planets’ orbits being ellipses. Newton based his idea on the average gradient
of the function which can be described as a rise (change in x going up or down) over run
(change in y going left to right). His goal was to find a formula for a gradient at any given
point of any function. He started his reasoning by making a secant of curve smaller and
smaller. As the secant approaches 0 it eventually becomes a single point. From that, we can
clearly see that the tangent at this point is the wanted slope. He called it fluxion - better
known as the instantaneous rate of change. Later development brought to life the idea of an
inverse operation - the method of fluens or simply integration. See [3].
The history of calculus 6.5.2021 page 2
In 1674 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz began an independent study on calculus. Apart from
notation, there have been major differences between their reasoning. As opposed to New-
ton’s physical approach, his perspective was more metaphysical. He described the change as
a difference ranging over a sequence of infinitesimals - infinitely small values such as rect-
angles with width approaching 0. This was followed by defining the integral as the sum of
the ordinates the infinitesimal intervals in the abscissa, particularly the sum of the infinite
rectangles. See [3].
It took another hundred and fifty years to develop delta-epsilon proof as we know it today.
What is interesting, Augustin Louis Cauchy was not always recognized as its creator. Even
though he was the first one to conduct the proof on paper, some could not look past the lack
of rigorous definition for limits or derivatives. Nevertheless, Cauchy did formulate his verbal
definition in more precise way when conducting proofs. The derivative was characterised as
follows: ”Let δ, be very small numbers; the first is chosen so that for all numerical [i.e.
absolute] values of h less than δ, and for any value x of included [in the interval of definition],
the ratio (f (x + h) − f (x))/h will always be greater that f 0 (x) − and less than f 0 (x) + .”
See [4], p185.
Calculus took its time to form and fully develop. Originated with ancient mathematicians
trying to find areas or volumes of seemingly uncomplicated figures, followed by the medieval
discussion on indivisibles, and an almost century of anticipation before discovered in 17th.
Many great minds such as Torricelli, Roberval, Pascal, Fermat, and Wallis contributed to the
development before the first crystallization of the idea by Newton and Leibniz. Nonetheless,
mathematicians did not rest on their laurels. Lagrange, Cauchy, Weierstrass continued to
perfect the concept with the last major contribution introduced by Bernhard Riemann.
References
[1] Kline, Morris. Mathematical Thought From Ancient to Modern Times, 1, Ox-
ford University Press, Incorporated, 1990. ProQuest Ebook Central, pages 120-130
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/abdn/detail.action?docID=737458.
[2] Andersen, K.: Cavalieri’s method of indivisibles. Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. 31, p 298, 315-320
(1985)
[3] BOYER, C. B. (1959). The history of the calculus and its conceptual development: (The
concepts of the calculus). [New York], Dover, pages 131-135, 190-210
[4] Grabiner, J. (1983). Who Gave You the Epsilon? Cauchy and the Origins of Rigorous
Calculus. The American Mathematical Monthly, 90(3), 185-194. doi:10.2307/2975545

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Author Kaja Wroblewska

University of Aberdeen Date 6.5.2021

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