The Development of Newtonian Calculus in Britain, 1700-1800 - Softcover

Niccolò Guicciardini

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521524849 ISBN 13: 9780521524841

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2003

Synopsis

Guicciardini presents a comprehensive survey of both the research and teaching of Newtonian calculus, the calculus of "fluxions", over the period between 1700 and 1810. Although Newton was one of the inventors of calculus, the developments in Britain remained separate from the rest of Europe for over a century. While it is usually maintained that after Newton there was a period of decline in British mathematics, the author's research demonstrates that the methods used by researchers of the period yielded considerable success in laying the foundations and investigating the applications of the calculus. Even when "decline" set in, in mid century, the foundations of the reform were being laid, which were to change the direction and nature of the mathematics community. The book considers the importance of Isaac Newton, Roger Cotes, Brook Taylor, James Stirling, Abraham de Moivre, Colin Maclaurin, Thomas Bayes, John Landen and Edward Waring. This will be a useful book for students and researchers in the history of science, philosophers of science and undergraduates studying the history of mathematics.

About this title

About the Author

Niccolò Guicciardini holds degrees in physics and philosophy awarded by the Università degli Studi di Milano. This book is the published version of his Ph.D. thesis in the history of mathematics, written under the supervision of Ivor Grattan-Guinness at Middlesex Polytechnic. Niccolò Guicciardini is Co-Editor in Chief of Historia Mathematica and is a recipient of the Sarton Medal for 2011–2012, awarded by the University of Ghent, Belgium.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521524849
• ISBN 13: 9780521524841
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 244