eli5: What do people mean when they say “Newton invented calculus”?

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I can’t seem to wrap my head around the fact that math is invented? Maybe he came up with the symbols of integration and derivation, but these are phenomena, no? We’re just representing it in a “language” that makes sense. I’ve also heard people say that we may need “new math” to discover/explain new phenomena. What does that mean?

Edit: Thank you for all the responses. Making so much more sense now!

In: Mathematics

43 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Math is effectively just a language used to record, quantify, understand and communicate about natural phenomena. These events happen regardless of whether anyone is there to witness or record it. Newton just helped to plot out the dialect we use to understand these things. Saying he invented calculus is a bit of an over-simplification, I think.

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