Thursday: Mathematics
Which of the following mathematicians is credited with inventing calculus independently around the same time as Isaac Newton?
Make Your Pick!
Hint: He wrote calculus with curly “d”s and sparked an intellectual turf war with Newton.
Hey, You’re Smart! Now Level Up Your Financial Intelligence with Finbotica.
Financial markets present countless investment opportunities, but screening, monitoring and analyzing them can be time-consuming. Finbotica streamlines these tasks using automation, helping you save time and become a better and more profitable investor. Login or Create a Free Account now.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, a German polymath, independently developed calculus in the late 17th century—around the same time as Isaac Newton.
While Newton focused on fluxions (his version of derivatives), Leibniz introduced the notational system we still use today, including the ∫ for integration and d for differentials.
The discovery led to one of the most heated disputes in scientific history: the Newton–Leibniz calculus controversy. Each accused the other of plagiarism. Modern historians agree both arrived at calculus independently, though Newton may have started earlier. Leibniz’s elegant notation ultimately won out in the mathematical community and remains standard today.
His work went beyond calculus—he also contributed to binary numbers and philosophical logic.
