The Calculus Wars: Newton, Leibniz, and the Greatest Mathematical Clash of All Time by Jason Bardi (PDF)

Description

Now regarded as the bane of many college students’ existence, calculus was one of the most important mathematical innovations of the seventeenth century. But a dispute over its discovery sewed the seeds of discontent between two of the greatest scientific giants of all time — Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Today Newton and Leibniz are generally considered the twin independent inventors of calculus, and they are both credited with giving mathematics its greatest push forward since the time of the Greeks. Had they known each other under different circumstances, they might have been friends. But in their own lifetimes, the joint glory of calculus was not enough for either and each declared war against the other, openly and in secret. This long and bitter dispute has been swept under the carpet by historians — perhaps because it reveals Newton and Leibniz in their worst light — but The Calculus Wars tells the full story in narrative form for the first time. This vibrant and gripping scientific potboiler ultimately exposes how these twin mathematical giants were brilliant, proud, at times mad and, in the end, completely human.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This book gives a good idea about the scientifical (an political) situation by the end of the 17th century; so it can be seen as a prosopographical work.It also gives a good idea of the lives and works of both Newton and Leibniz.Negative is that it does not go into a description of calculus itself, how it began and the technical differences between the Newton an Leibniz approach.

⭐The rivalry between Leibniz and Newton is a very interesting one, and I enjoyed reading about it here. However, the biggest problem I have with this book is that the author tends to go off topic quite a bit. On more than one occasion, the book stops focusing on the calculus wars, and spends multiple pages detailing other historical events that happened around the same time the calculus wars were happening, even though they had very little to do with the wars themselves. Maybe the book would’ve been too short otherwise, but I found it hard to get through pages of material barely relevant to the story I bought the book to read about. I’m still glad I read it; I just wish it stayed on topic more.

⭐Newton was a jerk, but a very smart jerk!

⭐The book weaves political history and math history together very well. This was an enlightening window into the background story of the development of one of the greatest tools in mathematics, namely, calculus. If you study mathematics or related fields like physics in depth (math majors, mathematicians, physicists, astronomers, etc), then you should read this.

⭐The book is fine. Contents are detailed. But I prefer a more funny way to get to know this history. I am not expecting to read a textbook. In general, it’s fine.

⭐It is a fascinating history of the life & times of these two geniuses

⭐It was an interesting read about the independent discovery/invention of calculus, but there was also a lot if history that seemed irrelevant. I found myself skipping several pages here and there to get back to the Calculus Wars. Good descriptions of the personalities and contributions of Newton and Leibniz.

⭐About half way through this book I’m still waiting for an analysis of the mathematics when I got tired of, what seemed to me, Mr. Bardi’s bias toward Leibniz’s side of this story. I turned to Gale Chirstianson’s biography of Newton and the section on the Liebnitz conflict and found confirmation of my suspicions in the simple descriptions of Leibnitz’s appearance:Bardi: “Leibnitz was a larger-than-life figure, gangly, with long fingers and limbs, and a huge wig and courtly clothes. It’s easy to imagine him, with sweeping gestures, describing the uses of the machine: a marvelous speaker, now he’s talking about …”Christianson: “As a physical specimen Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz must have seemed quite unprepossessing to his contemporaries. He was somewhat stooped at the waist and of medium height, and his broad-shouldered torso was propelled about by bandy legs and diminutive feet. His oval countenance, …”I’ve abandoned Bardi’s book for good, will use Christianson and have ordered Boyer for more on calculus than history and I expect a more balanced presentation of facts.

⭐Not fan of the paperback, but what can you do. Corners of the front cover can get damaged during shipping.

Keywords

Free Download The Calculus Wars: Newton, Leibniz, and the Greatest Mathematical Clash of All Time in PDF format
The Calculus Wars: Newton, Leibniz, and the Greatest Mathematical Clash of All Time PDF Free Download
Download The Calculus Wars: Newton, Leibniz, and the Greatest Mathematical Clash of All Time 2009 PDF Free
The Calculus Wars: Newton, Leibniz, and the Greatest Mathematical Clash of All Time 2009 PDF Free Download
Download The Calculus Wars: Newton, Leibniz, and the Greatest Mathematical Clash of All Time PDF
Free Download Ebook The Calculus Wars: Newton, Leibniz, and the Greatest Mathematical Clash of All Time