Abstract—The transition to calculus was a remarkable period in the history of mathematics and witnessed great advancements in this field. The great minds of the 17th through the 19 Centuries worked rigorously on the theory and the application of calculus. One theory started another one, and details needed justifications. In turn, this started a new mathematical era developing the incredible field of calculus on the hands of the most intelligent people of ancient times. In this paper, we focus on an amazing mathematician who excelled in pure mathematics despite his physical inability of total blindness. This mathematician is Leonard Euler.
Index Terms—Leonard Euler, Euler Characteristic, Seven Bridges of Konigsberg, Zeta Function
Introduction
The invention of calculus started in the second half of the 17th Century. The few preceding centuries, known as the Renaissance period, marked a time of prosperity in different areas throughout Europe. Different philosophies emerged which resulted in a new form of mindset. Science and art were still very much interconnected and intermingled at this time, as exemplified by the work of artists and scientists such as Leonardo da Vinci. It is no surprise that revolutionary work in science and
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Euler was one of the mathematical giants of the 18th Century. Leonard Euler (1707-1783) was born in Basel, Switzerland. His father was a Lutheran minister and wanted him to follow his path. Euler’s interest was different however, he was a natural mathematician. Johann Bernoulli helped Euler pursue his path by convincing his father of his mathematical abilities. Bernoulli became Euler’s teacher at the St. Petersburg Academy of Science. Euler’s personal life was more on the tragic side. He married and had 13 children, but only 5 survived their infancy. It is said that Euler made some of his greatest discoveries while holding his baby
From the fourteenth to the seventeenth century the Renaissance transformed European culture and society. Many classical texts resurfaced and new scientific techniques arose. To many, Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most important figures in Renaissance history. He was given the name “Renaissance Man” because of his large role and impact. He had a large list of interests that spanned from science, art, anatomy, architecture, and mathematics. All of which were fundamental components that shaped the Renaissance era into what we know it as today.
Ball, Rouse. “Sir Isaac Newton.” A Short Account of the History of Mathematics. 4th ed. Print.
The first generation of Bernoulli mathematicians include brothers Jacob I(James, Jacques) (1654-1705), Nicolaus (1662-1716), and Johann I(John, Jean) (1667-1748), second generation are brothers Daniel I (1700-1782), Johann II(1710-1790), and their cousin Nicolaus II (1687-1759), and the third generation are brothers Johann III(1746-1807) and Jacob II(1759-1789). It would be exhausting to discuss the accomplishments of all the Bernoulli mathematicians, so our focus will be on the brothers Jacob I and Johann I, who contributed a substantial amount to the fields of mathematics we know today as elementary calculus and the theory of probability.
Leonhard Euler was a brilliant Swiss mathematician and physicist, living between 1707 and 1783. Euler had a phenomenal memory, so much so that he continued to contribute to the field of mathematics even after he went blind in 1766. He was the most productive mathematical writer of all time, publishing over 800 papers. Euler’s dedication towards the subject intrigued me and motivated me to choose a topic related to Euler himself. Amidst his many contributions, I came across e. After further research, I soon learned the multiple applications of the number, and its significance to math. I chose to study the topic of e because I wanted to learn the many ways e can be represented and how it impacts our lives, as well as to share my findings with my peers.
Number theory has to do with numbers of course, but it goes in depth and discusses how numbers relate to one another. Euler committed much of his time to number theory concerning topics such as the Pell equation, Fermat’s Last Theorem, perfect numbers, and the quadratic reciprocity law. Euler developed a theorem that proved Fermat’s theorem and created a deep understanding of Fermat’s theorem by doing so. Euler did not only do work concerning theorems made by other mathematicians, he developed identities and equations himself that are still in use today. For example, Euler’s identity, an equation that concerns many different fields of math. Euler’s formula is another equation that works in pair with his identity equation. These equations are considered beautiful to many modern mathematicians and have not been forgotten. The equations that Euler created, helped make a correlation between different topics and helped many different mathematicians. Euler also introduced new ways to solve quartic equations, and different ways to apply calculus to real life problems. The list goes on, with Euler’s development of Euler’s circle, Euler’s Characteristic, and even proofs. Euler also discussed the problem known as Seven Bridges of Konigsberg. He provided a solution to this problem which led to a theory called graph theory. Euler contributed much more than what was listed, but these are some of the greatest recognized works he
...st important scientists in history. It is said that they both shaped the sciences and mathematics that we use and study today. Euclid’s postulates and Archimedes’ calculus are both important fundamentals and tools in mathematics, while discoveries, such Archimedes’ method of using water to measure the volume of an irregularly shaped object, helped shaped all of today’s physics and scientific principles. It is for these reasons that they are remembered for their contributions to the world of mathematics and sciences today, and will continue to be remembered for years to come.
Many years ago humans discovered that with the use of mathematical calculations many things can be calculated in the world and even the universe. Mathematics consists of many different operations. The most important that is used by mathematicians, scientists and engineers is the derivative. Derivatives can help make calculations of anything with respect to another event or thing. Derivatives are mostly common when used with respect to time. This is a very important tool in this revolutionary world. With derivatives we can calculate the rate of change of anything with respect to time. This way we can have a sort of knowledge of upcoming events, and the different behaviors events can present. For example the population growth can be estimated applying derivatives. Not only population growth, but for example when dealing with plagues there can be certain control. An other example can be with diseases, taking all this events together a conclusion can be made.
It is well known that in the past, Renaissance artists received their training in an atmosphere of artists and mathematicians studying and learning together (Emmer 2). People also suggest that the art of the future will depend on new technologies, computer graphics in particular (Emmer 1). There are many mathematical advantages to using computer graphics. They can help to visualize phenomena and to understand how to solve new problems (Emmer 2). “The use of ‘visual computers’ gives rise to new challenges for mathematicians. At the same time, computer graphics might in the future be the unifying language between art and science” (Emmer 3).
The Scientific Revolution was sparked through Nicolaus Copernicusí unique use of mathematics. His methods developed from Greek astr...
The argument in this paper that even though the onus of the discovery of calculus lies with Isaac Newton, the credit goes to Leibniz for the simple fact that he was the one who published his works first. Appending to this is the fact that the calculus wars that ensue was merely and egotistic battle between humans succumbing to their bare primal instincts. To commence, a brief historical explanation must be given about both individuals prior to stating their cases.
Carl Friedrich Gauss was born April 30, 1777 in Brunswick, Germany to a stern father and a loving mother. At a young age, his mother sensed how intelligent her son was and insisted on sending him to school to develop even though his dad displayed much resistance to the idea. The first test of Gauss’ brilliance was at age ten in his arithmetic class when the teacher asked the students to find the sum of all whole numbers 1 to 100. In his mind, Gauss was able to connect that 1+100=101, 2+99=101, and so on, deducing that all 50 pairs of numbers would equal 101. By this logic all Gauss had to do was multiply 50 by 101 and get his answer of 5,050. Gauss was bound to the mathematics field when at the age of 14, Gauss met the Duke of Brunswick. The duke was so astounded by Gauss’ photographic memory that he financially supported him through his studies at Caroline College and other universities afterwards. A major feat that Gauss had while he was enrolled college helped him decide that he wanted to focus on studying mathematics as opposed to languages. Besides his life of math, Gauss also had six children, three with Johanna Osthoff and three with his first deceased wife’s best fri...
Calculus, the mathematical study of change, can be separated into two departments: differential calculus, and integral calculus. Both are concerned with infinite sequences and series to define a limit. In order to produce this study, inventors and innovators throughout history have been present and necessary. The ancient Greeks, Indians, and Enlightenment thinkers developed the basic elements of calculus by forming ideas and theories, but it was not until the late 17th century that the theories and concepts were being specified. Originally called infinitesimal calculus, meaning to create a solution for calculating objects smaller than any feasible measurement previously known through the use of symbolic manipulation of expressions. Generally accepted, Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz were recognized as the two major inventors and innovators of calculus, but the controversy appeared when both wanted sole credit of the invention of calculus. This paper will display the typical reason of why Newton was the inventor of calculus and Leibniz was the innovator, while both contributed an immense amount of knowledge to the system.
Burton, D. (2011). The History of Mathematics: An Introduction. (Seventh Ed.) New York, NY. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Ever wonder how scientists figure out how long it takes for the radiation from a nuclear weapon to decay? This dilemma can be solved by calculus, which helps determine the rate of decay of the radioactive material. Calculus can aid people in many everyday situations, such as deciding how much fencing is needed to encompass a designated area. Finding how gravity affects certain objects is how calculus aids people who study Physics. Mechanics find calculus useful to determine rates of flow of fluids in a car. Numerous developments in mathematics by Ancient Greeks to Europeans led to the discovery of integral calculus, which is still expanding. The first mathematicians came from Egypt, where they discovered the rule for the volume of a pyramid and approximation of the area of a circle. Later, Greeks made tremendous discoveries. Archimedes extended the method of inscribed and circumscribed figures by means of heuristic, which are rules that are specific to a given problem and can therefore help guide the search. These arguments involved parallel slices of figures and the laws of the lever, the idea of a surface as made up of lines. Finding areas and volumes of figures by using conic section (a circle, point, hyperbola, etc.) and weighing infinitely thin slices of figures, an idea used in integral calculus today was also a discovery of Archimedes. One of Archimedes's major crucial discoveries for integral calculus was a limit that allows the "slices" of a figure to be infinitely thin. Another Greek, Euclid, developed ideas supporting the theory of calculus, but the logic basis was not sustained since infinity and continuity weren't established yet (Boyer 47). His one mistake in finding a definite integral was that it is not found by the sums of an infinite number of points, lines, or surfaces but by the limit of an infinite sequence (Boyer 47). These early discoveries aided Newton and Leibniz in the development of calculus. In the 17th century, people from all over Europe made numerous mathematics discoveries in the integral calculus field. Johannes Kepler "anticipat(ed) results found… in the integral calculus" (Boyer 109) with his summations. For instance, in his Astronomia nova, he formed a summation similar to integral calculus dealing with sine and cosine. F. B. Cavalieri expanded on Johannes Kepler's work on measuring volumes. Also, he "investigate[d] areas under the curve" ("Calculus (mathematics)") with what he called "indivisible magnitudes.
The 17th Century saw Napier, Briggs and others greatly extend the power of mathematics as a calculator science with his discovery of logarithms. Cavalieri made progress towards the calculus with his infinitesimal methods and Descartes added the power of algebraic methods to geometry. Euclid, who lived around 300 BC in Alexandria, first stated his five postulates in his book The Elements that forms the base for all of his later Abu Abd-Allah ibn Musa al’Khwarizmi, was born abo...