Problems with the Calculus | Math History | NJ Wildberger

We discuss some of the controversy and debate generated by the 17th century work on Calculus. Newton and Leibniz's ideas were not universally accepted as making sense, despite the impressive, even spectacular achievements that the new theory was able to demonstrate.

In this lecture we discuss problems with the differential calculus (i.e. derivatives), integral calculus and the nature of curves, the role of imaginary numbers, and a conundrum involving probability theory, called the St. Petersburg paradox.

Amongst the critics were members of the Bernoulli family, a Dutch physician, and an English bishop. The debate was very important historically--it motivated 18th century mathematicians, notably Euler and Lagrange, to try to put the calculus on a more logical algebraic foundation, and led also to 19th century work on limits and the nature of the continuum, along with 20th century axiomatic approaches to real numbers, and Robinson's non-standard analysis.

Arguably, a lot of these essential difficulties have not been fully dealt with, even by modern axiomatic approaches. The problems of the calculus form part of a trajectory going back to the ancient Greeks, and are still very much with us now in the 21st century.

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Screenshot PDFs for my videos are available at the website http://wildegg.com. These give you a concise overview of the contents of the lectures for various Playlists: great for review, study and summary.

My research papers can be found at my Research Gate page, at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Norman_Wildberger

My blog is at http://njwildberger.com/, where I will discuss lots of foundational issues, along with other things.

Online courses will be developed at openlearning.com. The first one, already underway is Algebraic Calculus One at https://www.openlearning.com/courses/algebraic-calculus-one/ Please join us for an exciting new approach to one of mathematics' most important subjects!

If you would like to support these new initiatives for mathematics education and research, please consider becoming a Patron of this Channel at https://www.patreon.com/njwildberger Your support would be much appreciated.

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Here are all the Insights into Mathematics Playlists:

Elementary Mathematics (K-6) Explained: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?
list=PL8403C2F0C89B1333
Year 9 Maths: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIljB45xT85CcGpZpO542YLPeDIf1jqXK
Ancient Mathematics: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIljB45xT85Aqe2b4FBWUGJdYROT6-o4e
Wild West Banking: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIljB45xT85DB7CzoFWvA920NES3g8tJH
Sociology and Pure Mathematics: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIljB45xT85A-qCypcmZqRvaS1pGXpTua
Old Babylonian Mathematics (with Daniel Mansfield): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?
list=PLIljB45xT85CdeBmQZ2QiCEnPQn5KQ6ov
Math History: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL55C7C83781CF4316
Wild Trig: Intro to Rational Trigonometry: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3C58498718451C47
MathFoundations: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5A714C94D40392AB
Wild Linear Algebra: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIljB45xT85BhzJ-oWNug1YtUjfWp1qAp
Famous Math Problems: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIljB45xT85Bfc-S4WHvTIM7E-ir3nAOf
Probability and Statistics: An Introduction: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIljB45xT85AMigTyprOuf__daeklnLse
Boole's Logic and Circuit Analysis: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIljB45xT85CnIGIWb7tH1F_S2PyOC8rb
Universal Hyperbolic Geometry: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIljB45xT85CN9oJ4gYkuSQQhAtpIucuI
Differential Geometry: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIljB45xT85DWUiFYYGqJVtfnkUFWkKtP
Algebraic Topology: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6763F57A61FE6FE8
Math Seminars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBF39AFBBC3FB30AF
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And here are the Wild Egg Maths Playlists:

Triangle Centres: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLBGXDSUohM&list=PLzdiPTrEWyz6VcJQ5xcuqY6g4DWjvpmjM
Six: An elementary course in pure mathematics: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdiPTrEWyz4KD007Ge10dfrDVc4YwlYS
Algebraic Calculus One: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdiPTrEWyz4rKFN541wFKvKPSg5Ea6XB
Algebraic Calculus Two: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdiPTrEWyz5VLVr-0LPPgm4T1mtU_DG-
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Видео Problems with the Calculus | Math History | NJ Wildberger канала Insights into Mathematics