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
The instantaneous rate of change of a function isn’t a thing that exists in nature and you can drop on your foot. It’s an abstract property about an abstract mathematical relationship.
It’s not even the same thing as a slope between two points on a line or curve. You need to apply the concept of limits, and you need to conceive of a function having a slope at a single point.
The ideas and techniques of differentiation and integration weren’t always known. Somebody had to invent the concepts for talking about them and the tools for computing them, and the notation for formalizing them.
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