Math Department (Thesis/2007-08)

Did Ancient Greek Mathematicians invent Calculus?

Under the direction of: Julius Barbanel

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Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz (both working in the late 17th and early 18th centuries) are generally considered to be the inventors of calculus. However, work of the ancient Greek mathematicians Eudoxus and Archimedes (who worked in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, respectively) looks a whole lot like integral calculus. Eudoxus developed the "Method of Exhaustion," which used an idea very close to the notion of a limit, to compute areas and volumes. Archimedes extended this method, and also developed what has become known as "The Mechanical Method" for studying areas and volumes and involves "adding" together an infinite number of infinitesimally small slices. Should Eudoxus and Archimedes be credited with inventing integral calculus?

Math Department web pages Created: 25 Apr 2007 Last modified: 25 Apr 2007 Comments to: math@union.edu

Thesis Topics - K. Black Thesis Topics for 2007-2008 Thesis Topics - J. Barbanel