History of Differentiation

By: Abdur Rehman

Mathematics III Assignment
“"The main duty of the historian of mathematics, as well as his fondest privilege, is to explain the
humanity of mathematics, to illustrate its greatness, beauty, and dignity, and to describe how the
incessant efforts and accumulated genius of many generations have built up that magnificent
monument, the object of our most legitimate pride as men, and of our wonder, humility and
thankfulness, as individuals. The study of the history of mathematics will not make better
mathematicians but gentler ones, it will enrich their minds, mellow their hearts, and bring out their
finer qualities."
In day to day life we are often interested in the extent to which a change in one quantity affects a
change in another related quantity. This is called a rate of change. For example, if you own a motor car
you might be interested in how much a change in the amount of fuel used affects how far you have
travelled. This rate of change is called fuel consumption. If your car has high fuel consumption then a
large change in the amount of fuel in your tank is accompanied by a small change in the distance you
have travelled. Sprinters are interested in how a change in time is related to a change in their position.
This rate of change is called velocity. Other rates of change may not have special names like fuel
consumption or velocity, but are nonetheless important. For example, an agronomist might be
interested in the extent to which a change in the amount of fertilizer used on a particular crop affects
the yield of the crop. Economists want to know how a change in the price of a product affects the
demand for that product. Differential calculus is about describing in a precise fashion the ways in which
related quantities change. It is all about finding the slope of a tangent to the graph of a function, or
equivalently, differential calculus is about finding the rate of change of one quantity with respect to
another quantity. Differentiation is the action of computing a derivative.

Calculus, known in its early history as infinitesimal calculus, is a mathematical discipline focused on
limits, continuity, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series. When we talk about history of differentiation,
derivatives & calculus it starts from 1021 - where Ibn al-Haytham completes his Book of Optics, which
formulated and solved “Alhazen's problem” geometrically, and developed and proved the earliest
general formula for infinitesimal and integral calculus using mathematical induction. Then in 12th
century- Bhāskara II conceives differential calculus. In 16th century, 1501 - Nilakantha Somayaji writes
the “Tantra Samgraha”, which lays the foundation for a complete system of fluxions (derivatives), and
expands on concepts from his previous text, the “Aryabhatiya Bhasya”. In 1550 - Jyeshtadeva, a Kerala
school mathematician, writes the “Yuktibhāṣā”, the world's first calculus text, which gives detailed
derivations of many calculus theorems and formulae. In 1629 - Pierre de Fermat develops a
rudimentary differential calculus, then in 1665 - Isaac Newton works on the fundamental theorem of
calculus and develops his version of infinitesimal calculus, In 1673 - Gottfried Leibniz also develops his
version of infinitesimal calculus, whereas in 1675 - Isaac Newton invents a Newton's method for the
computation of functional roots, in 1696 - Jakob Bernoulli and Johann Bernoulli solve brachistochrone
problem, the first result in the calculus of variations. And in 1691 - Gottfried Leibniz discovers the
technique of separation of variables for ordinary differential equations.
The discovery of calculus is often attributed to two men, Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz, who
independently developed its foundations. Although they both were instrumental in its creation, they
thought of the fundamental concepts in very different ways. While Newton considered variables
changing with time, Leibniz thought of the variables x and y as ranging over sequences of infinitely close
values. He introduced dx and dy as differences between successive values of these sequences. Leibniz
knew that dy/dx gives the tangent but he did not use it as a defining property. On the other hand,
Newton used quantities x' and y', which were finite velocities, to compute the tangent. Of course neither
Leibniz nor Newton thought in terms of functions, but both always thought in terms of graphs. For
Newton the calculus was geometrical while Leibniz took it towards analysis.

It is interesting to note that Leibniz was very conscious of the importance of good notation and put a lot
of thought into the symbols he used. Newton, on the other hand, wrote more for himself than anyone
else. Consequently, he tended to use whatever notation he thought of on that day. This turned out to be
important in later developments. Leibniz's notation was better suited to generalizing calculus to multiple
variables and in addition it highlighted the operator aspect of the derivative and integral. As a result,
much of the notation that is used in Calculus today is due to Leibniz.

Historically, there was much debate over whether it was Newton or Leibniz who first "invented"
calculus. This argument, the Leibniz and Newton calculus controversy, involving Leibniz, who was
German, and the Englishman Newton, led to a rift in the European mathematical community lasting over
a century. Leibniz was the first to publish his investigations; however, it is well established that Newton
had started his work several years prior to Leibniz and had already developed a theory of tangents by
the time Leibniz became interested in the question. It is not known how much this may have influenced
Leibniz. The initial accusations were made by students and supporters of the two great scientists at the
turn of the century, but after 1711 both of them became personally involved, accusing each other of
plagiarism.
The priority dispute had an effect of separating English-speaking mathematicians from those in the
continental Europe for many years. Only in the 1820s, due to the efforts of the Analytical Society, did
Leibnizian analytical calculus become accepted in England. Today, both Newton and Leibniz are given
credit for independently developing the basics of calculus. It is Leibniz, however, who is credited with
giving the new discipline the name it is known by today: "calculus". Newton's name for it was "the
science of fluents and fluxions".

The work of both Newton and Leibniz is reflected in the notation used today. Newton introduced the

notation f` ∫
for the derivative of a function (f). Leibniz introduced the symbol for the integral and
wrote the derivative of a function y of the variable x as dy/dx and both of which are still in use.

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 both infinitesimal and integral
calculus was written in 1748 by Maria Gaetana Agnesi.”