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

Does one invent a martial art, or discover it?

Did someone invent fishing, or discover it?

Did someone invent metalworking, or discover it?

Did someone invent the wheel? Or discover how to make a wheel?

Did someone invent the table, or discover how to make a table?

Even take a motor, or a lightbulb. Did someone invent those, or did they just discover a process by which to make them? The thing is, the process to create one would have worked before whoever first did it carried out or described that process. A lightbulb, or a table, or a blender are all amongst possible configurations of atoms. Was the inventor not just the first person to perform the process and represent it in “language” as you say?

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