Sir Isaac Newtonwas an
Englishphysicist, mathematician,astrono
mer,natural philosopher,alchemist,
andtheologian, who has been considered
by many to be the greatest and most
influentialscientistwho ever lived.
Newton describeduniversal
gravitationandthe three laws of motion,
which dominated the scientific view of the
physicaluniversefor the next three
centuries.
Isaac Newton was born on what is retroactively considered 4
January 1643atWoolsthorpe ManorinWoolsthorpe-by-
Colsterworth, ahamletin the county of Lincolnshire.
At the time of Newton's birth, England had not adopted
theGregorian calendarand therefore his date of birth was
recorded as Christmas Day, 25 December 1642.
Newton was born three months after the death of his father,
a prosperous farmer also named Isaac Newton.
Newton was educated atThe King's School, Grantham, and
in October 1659 he was removed from school.
In June 1661, he was admitted toTrinity College,
Cambridgeas asizar–a sort of work-study role.
In 1665, he discovered the generalizedbinomial theoremand
began to develop a mathematical theory that later
becameinfinitesimal calculus.
Soon after Newton had obtained his degree in August 1665,
the university temporarily closed as a precaution against
theGreat Plague.
Newton received a bachelor’s degree at Trinity College,
Cambridge in 1665
The next two years Newton returned home where he
came up with most of his discoveries.
He returned to Trinity College in 1667, where he became a
professor of mathematics in 1669.
King school Trinity College
Newton's work has been said "to distinctly
advance every branch of mathematics then
studied".
His work on the subject usually referred to as
fluxions or calculus, seen in a manuscript of
October 1666, is now published among Newton's
mathematical papers.
Calculus was invented by sir Isaac Newton
Isaac Newtondeveloped the use of calculus in
hislaws of motionand gravitation.
Calculusis a branch ofmathematicsfocused
onlimits,functions,derivatives,integrals, andinfinite series.
This subject constitutes a major part of modernmathematics
education.
It has two major branches,differential
calculusandintegralcalculus, which are related by
thefundamental theorem of calculus.
Calculus is the study of change,in the same way
thatgeometryis the study of shape andalgebrais the study
of operations and their application to solving equations.
Calculus has historically been called "the calculus
ofinfinitesimals", or "infinitesimal calculus".
More generally,calculusrefers to any method or system of
calculation guided by the symbolic manipulation of
expressions.
Some examples of other well-known calculi
arepropositional calculus,variational calculus,lambda
calculus,pi calculus, andjoin calculus.
A course in calculus is a gateway to other, more
advanced courses in mathematics devoted to
the study of functions and limits, broadly
calledmathematical analysis.
Calculus has widespread applications
inscience,economics, andengineeringand can
solve many problems for whichalgebraalone is
insufficient.
The ancient period introduced some of the ideas that led
tointegralcalculus, but does not seem to have developed
these ideas in a rigorous and systematic way.
Calculations of volumes and areas, one goal of integral
calculus, can be found in theEgyptianMoscow papyrus(c.
1820 BC), but the formulas are mere instructions, with no
indication as to method, and some of them are wrong.From
the age ofGreek mathematics,Eudoxus(c. 408−355 BC) used
themethod of exhaustion, which prefigures the concept of
the limit, to calculate areas and volumes, while
Archimedes(c. 287−212 BC)developed this idea further,
inventingheuristicswhich resembles the methods of integral
calculus.
Themethod of exhaustionwas later reinvented
inChinabyLiu Huiin the 3rd century AD in order
to find the area of a circle.
In the 5th century AD,Zu Chongzhiestablished a
method that would later be calledCavalieri's
principleto find the volume of asphere.
In the 14th Century Indian mathematicianMadhava of
Sangamagramaand theKerala school of astronomy and
mathematicsstated many components of calculus such as
theTaylor series,infinite seriesapproximations, anintegral
test for convergence, early forms of differentiation, term by
term integration, iterative methods for solutions of non-
linear equations, and the theory that the area under a curve
is its integral.
Some consider theYuktibhāṣāto be the first text on calculus.
In Europe, the foundational work was a treatise due
toBonaventura Cavalieri, who argued that volumes and
areas should be computed as the sums of the volumes
and areas of infinitesimally thin cross-sections.
The ideas were similar to Archimedes' inThe Method,
but this treatise was lost until the early part of the
twentieth century.
Cavalieri's work was not well respected since his
methods could lead to erroneous results, and the
infinitesimal quantities he introduced were disreputable
at first.
LeibnizandNewtonare usually both credited with the
invention of calculus.
Newton was the first to apply calculus to generalphysicsand
Leibniz developed much of the notation used in calculus today.
The basic insights that both Newton and Leibniz provided were
the laws of differentiation and integration, second and higher
derivatives, and the notion of an approximating polynomial
series.
By Newton's time, the fundamental theorem of calculus was
known.
When Newton and Leibniz first published their results, there wasgreat
controversyover which mathematician (and therefore which country)
deserved credit.
Newton derived his results first, but Leibniz published first.
Newton claimed Leibniz stole ideas from his unpublished notes, which
Newton had shared with a few members of theRoyal Society. This
controversy divided English-speaking mathematicians from continental
mathematicians for many years, to the detriment of English mathematics.
A careful examination of the papers of Leibniz and Newton shows that they
arrived at their results independently, with Leibniz starting first with
integration and Newton with differentiation.
Today, both Newton and Leibniz are given credit for developing calculus
independently.
It is Leibniz, however, who gave the new discipline its name. Newton called
his calculus "the science of fluxions".
Since the time of Leibniz and Newton, many mathematicians
have contributed to the continuing development of calculus.
One of the first and most complete works on finite and
infinitesimal analysis was written in 1748 byMaria Gaetana
Agnesi
Sir Isaac Newton portrait
While some of the ideas of calculus had been
developed earlier
inEgypt,Greece,China,India,Iraq, Persia,
andJapan, the modern use of calculus began
inEurope, during the 17th century, whenIsaac
NewtonandGottfried Wilhelm Leibnizbuilt on the
work of earlier mathematicians to introduce its basic
principles.
The development of calculus was built on earlier
concepts of instantaneous motion and area
underneath curves.
In the 19th century, infinitesimals were replaced bylimits.
Limits describe the value of afunctionat a certain input in
terms of its values at nearby input.
They capture small-scale behavior, just like infinitesimals, but
use the ordinaryreal number system. In this treatment, calculus
is a collection of techniques for manipulating certain limits.
Infinitesimals get replaced by very small numbers, and the
infinitely small behavior of the function is found by taking the
limiting behavior for smaller and smaller numbers.
Limits are the easiest way to provide rigorous foundations for
calculus, and for this reason they are the standard approach.
differential calculusis a subfield ofcalculusconcerned with
the study of the rates at which quantities change. It is one of
the two traditional divisions of calculus, the other being
integral calculus.
The primary objects of study in differential calculus are
thederivativeof afunction, related notions such as
thedifferential, and their applications.
The derivative of a function at a chosen input value describes
the rate of change of the function near that input value. The
process of finding a derivative is calleddifferentiation.
Geometrically, the derivative at a point equals theslopeof
thetangent lineto thegraph of the functionat that point. For
areal-valued functionof a single real variable, the derivative of
a function at a point generally determines the bestlinear
approximationto the function at that point.
Incalculus,Leibniz's notation, named in honor
of the 17th-
centuryGermanphilosopherandmathematician
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, uses the
symbolsdxanddyto represent "infinitely small"
(orinfinitesimal) increments ofxandy, just as
Δxand Δyrepresent finite increments ofxandy.
Integral calculusis the study of the definitions,
properties, and applications of two related
concepts, theindefinite integraland thedefinite
integral.
The process of finding the value of an integral is
calledintegration.
In technical language, integral calculus studies
two relatedlinear operators.
Thefundamental theorem of calculusstates that
differentiation and integration are inverse operations.
More precisely, it relates the values of antiderivatives to
definite integrals.
Because it is usually easier to compute an antiderivative
than to apply the definition of a definite integral, the
Fundamental Theorem of Calculus provides a practical
way of computing definite integrals.
It can also be interpreted as a precise statement of the
fact that differentiation is the inverse of integration.
Ingeometry, thetangent line(or simply thetangent) to
a planecurveat a givenpointis thestraight linethat
"just touches" the curve at that point—that is, coincides
with the curve at that point without crossing to the
other side of the curve.
More precisely, a straight line is said to be a tangent of a
curvey=f(x)at a pointx=con the curve if the line
passes through the point(c,f(c))on the curve and has
slopef'(c)wheref'is thederivativeoff.
A similar definition applies tospace curvesand curves
inn-dimensionalEuclidean space.
Tangent Tangent Tangent
graph circle line
themaximumandminimumof afunction, known
collectively asextremaare the largest and smallest
value that the function takes at a point either within a
given neighborhood or on the functiondomainin its
entirety
More generally, the maximum and minimum of asetare
thegreatest and least elementin the set. Unbounded
infinite sets such as the set ofreal numbershave no
minimum and maximum.
In themathematicalfield ofnumerical analysis, aNewton
polynomial, named after its inventorIsaac Newton, is
theinterpolationpolynomialfor a given set of data points in
theNewton form.
The Newton polynomial is sometimes calledNewton's divided
differences interpolation polynomialbecause the coefficients of the
polynomial are calculated usingdivided differences.
For any given set of data points, there is only one polynomial (of least
possible degree) that passes through all of them. Thus, it is more
appropriate to speak of "the Newton form of the interpolation
polynomial" rather than of "the Newton interpolation polynomial".
Like theLagrange form, it is merely another way to write the same
polynomial.
Newton's formula is of interest because it is the
straightforward rate of change of its rate of
change, etc. at one particular x value.
Newton's formula is Taylor's polynomial based
on finite differences instead of instantaneous
rates of change.
Integrationis an important concept
inmathematicsand, together with its
inverse,differentiation, is one of the two main
operations incalculus.
Given afunctionfof arealvariablexand an
interval[a,b]of thereal line, thedefinite integral
is defined informally to be theareaof the region in
thexy-plane bounded by thegraphoff, thex-axis,
and the vertical linesx=aandx=b, such that areas
above the axis add to the total, and the area below
the x axis subtract from the total.
There are many ways of formally defining an
integral, not all of which are equivalent.
The differences exist mostly to deal with
differing special cases which may not be
integrable under other definitions, but also
occasionally for pedagogical reasons.
The most commonly used definitions of integral
are Riemann integrals and Lévesque integrals.
A "proper" Riemann integral assumes the integrand
is defined and finite on a closed and bounded
interval, bracketed by the limits of integration.
An improper integral occurs when one or more of
these conditions is not satisfied.
In some cases such integrals may be defined by
considering thelimitof asequenceof
properRiemann integralson progressively larger
intervals.
Themultiple integralis a type
ofdefiniteintegralextended tofunctionsof
more than one realvariable, for example,ƒ(x,y)
orƒ(x,y,z).
Integrals of a function of two variables over a
region in ℝ
2
are called double integrals.
The concept of an integral can be extended to more general
domains of integration, such as curved lines and surfaces.
Such integrals are known as line integrals and surface integrals
respectively.
These have important applications in physics, as when dealing
withvector fields.
Aline integral(sometimes called apath integral) is an integral
where thefunctionto be integrated is evaluated along acurve.
Various different line integrals are in use. In the case of a
closed curve it is also called acontour integral.
Asurface integralis a definite integral taken over
asurface(which may be a curved set in space); it can be
thought of as thedouble integralanalog of theline
integral.
The function to be integrated may be ascalar fieldor
avector field. The value of the surface integral is the
sum of the field at all points on the surface.
This can be achieved by splitting the surface into surface
elements, which provide the partitioning for Riemann
sums.
Adifferential formis a mathematical concept in
the fields ofmultivariable calculus,differential
topologyandtensors.
The modern notation for the differential form,
as well as the idea of the differential forms as
being thewedge productsofexterior
derivativesforming anexterior algebra, was
introduced byÉlie Cartan.
In the 1690s, Newton wrote a number ofreligious tractsdealing with the
literal interpretation of the Bible.
Henry Moore's belief in the Universe and rejection ofCartesian dualismmay
have influenced Newton's religious ideas. A manuscript he sent toJohn
Lockein which he disputed the existence of theTrinitywas never published.
Later works–The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended(1728)
andObservations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St.
John(1733)–were published after his death.
He also devoted a great deal of time toalchemy(see above).
Newton was also a member of theParliament of Englandfrom 1689 to 1690
and in 1701, but according to some accounts his only comments were to
complain about a cold draught in the chamber and request that the window
be closed.
Newton died in his sleep in London on 31 March
1727and was buried inWestminster Abbey.
Newton, a bachelor, had divested much of his estate
to relatives during his last years, and diedintestate.
After his death, Newton's hair was examined and
found to containmercury, probably resulting from
his alchemical pursuits.Mercury poisoningcould
explain Newton's eccentricity in late life.
French mathematicianJoseph-Louis Lagrangeoften said that Newton
was the greatest genius who ever lived, and once added that Newton
was also "the most fortunate, for we cannot find more than once a
system of the world to establish."English poetAlexander Popewas
moved by Newton's accomplishments to write the famousepitaph:
Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night;
God said "Let Newton be" and all was light.
Newton himself had been rather more modest of his own
achievements, famously writing in a letter toRobert Hookein
February 1676:
If I have seen further it is bystanding on the shoulders of giants.
Newton's monument (1731) can be seen in Westminster Abbey, at the north
of the entrance to the choir against the choir screen, near his tomb.
It was executed by the sculptorMichael Rysbrack(1694–1770) in white and
grey marble with design by the architectWilliam Kent.
The monument features a figure of Newton reclining on top of a
sarcophagus, his right elbow resting on several of his great books and his left
hand pointing to a scroll with a mathematical design.
Above him is a pyramid and a celestial globe showing the signs of the Zodiac
and the path of the comet of 1680.
A relief panel depictsputtiusing instruments such as a telescope and
prism.
[71]
The Latin inscription on the base translates as:
Here is buried Isaac Newton, Knight, who by a strength
of mind almost divine, and mathematical principles
peculiarly his own, explored the course and figures of
the planets, the paths of comets, the tides of the sea,
the dissimilarities in rays of light, and, what no other
scholar has previously imagined, the properties of the
colours thus produced.
Diligent, sagacious and faithful, in his expositions of
nature, antiquity and the holy Scriptures, he vindicated
by his philosophy the majesty of God mighty and good,
and expressed the simplicity of the Gospel in his
manners.