The Early Mathematical Manuscripts of Leibniz (Dover Books on Mathematics) by G. W. Leibniz (PDF)

Description

The manuscripts and correspondence of Leibniz possess a special interest: they are invaluable as aids to the study of their author’s part in the invention and development of the infinitesimal calculus. In addition, the main ideas behind Leibniz’s philosophical theories lay here, in his mathematical work.This volume consists of two sections. The first part features Leibniz’s own accounts of his work, and the second section comprises critical and historical notes and essays. An informative Introduction leads to the “postscript” to Leibniz’s 1703 letter to James Bernoulli, his “Historia et Origio Calculi Differentialis,” and manuscripts of the period 1673-77. Essays by the distinguished scholar C. I. Gerhardt follow–Leibniz in London and Leibniz and Pascal, along with additional letters and manuscripts by Leibniz.

User’s Reviews

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

⭐It always puzzled me that we study Voltaire’s literary attack on Leibniz’s ideas, but we never discuss the ideas Voltaire was responding to. We study forms of mathematics which were designed to argue against Leibniz’s more radical mathematical ideas, but we aren’t led through the history of how the ideas were developed. I have become convinced that it is not by accident. Leibniz was absurdly ahead of his time in the early 18th century and he is still ahead of our time today. These translations give us a small glimpse of this genius which seems to permeate all important fields of life.These earlier works show Leibniz in a more confident phase-where he believed his ideas could change the entire world in his lifetime. His political theory, philosophy and mathematics (we don’t use Newton’s esoteric calculus we use Leibniz’s) did achieve this, but it took much longer-and sadly much is still not known to today’s generation of university students and their teachers. This well-done book provides a peak into Leibniz’s revolutionary world of conceptual truth.

⭐I was looking for a clue as to what Leibniz was thinking when he developed Calculus. This book didn’t so much answer my question, but raise others, as well as make clear how paltry my own history background is. The book is a series of translations and commentaries on some of Leibniz’s writings which give the reader a transparent window into the period: the mathematicians being read, the mathematicians respected, the current notation, and what Leibniz was getting up to. Additionally, because the commentaries come from different eras, the reader witnesses the shift in attitude toward Leibniz and the subsequent approaches to understanding his work. The papers presented are not all complete and they do not present a seamless flow of ideas, which at first can be frustrating. But upon sticking with the reading, it becomes apparent that this bumpy nature is itself a translation of the manner in which mathematics develops.

⭐The contents of this book are invaluable for anyone wishing to understand the history of calculus. Personally, I think the translator has a bit of a bias against Leibniz; however, his footnotes and insights are very helpful for the modern reader to be able to understand the most important discovery in mathematics ever.

⭐This is a copy of some out of print version. The remaster loses some lines at the bottom of some pages. And it is not even a clean master. It has notes from some previous owner. I don’t recommend it.

⭐Reading leibniz is always a pleasure as well as quite a challage and on the more difficult subjects, such as this book, one would hope to find help in the rather extensive footnotes provided by this translator. Much to my disappointment the footnotes was never meant to clarify anything, save perhaps for the utter contempt the translator has for Leibniz. For the first two letters chosen, the footnotes exceeded the the text by far and none of it dealt with the subject beyond casting doubt over leibniz’ explanations on how he came to perceive his calculus. Several footnotes were so hateful, that you wonder why J.M. Childs even bothered to translate the letters in the first place. He could well have written all that in a seperate book, leaving that garbage to the die hard leibniz haters in London and elsewhere.The dislike of the translator and the extent of it, also leaves you wondering whether the more difficult to understand passages is even translated correctly. I would advice caution reading this book as the intent seems to be to establish that it was a secret Barrows-Newton correspondence (one not even provided evidence for) and not Leibniz’ own work, that developed the differential calculus. For a more fair assessment of Leibniz’ calculus, look up Bruce directors “Riemann for anti-dummies” and the work of the Worldwide LaRouche Youth Movement. These people with whom i am associated has some of the best presentations of the tradition of Leibniz, kepler, Cusa, Riemann, Gauss et. al.-Enjoy

⭐Excellent !

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