Tagcalculus
Iterations of Immortality
If it is beauty that governs the mathematician’s soul, it is truth and certainty that remind him of his dutyby David Berlinski Editor’s note: We are delighted to welcome Science After Babel, the latest book from mathematician and philosopher David Berlinski. This article is adapted from Chapter 7. The calculus and the rich body of mathematical analysis to which it gave rise made modern science possible, but it was the algorithm that made possible the modern world. They are utterly different, these ideas. The calculus serves the imperial vision of mathematical physics. It is a vision in which the real elements of the world are revealed to be its elementary constituents: particles, forces, fields, or even a strange fused combination of space and time. Written in the language of mathematics, a single set of fearfully compressed laws describes their secret Read More ›
Science After Babel
Read an excerpt of a new book by mathematician and philosopher David BerlinskiBy David Berlinski Editor’s note: We are delighted to welcome Science After Babel, the latest book from mathematician and philosopher David Berlinski. This article is adapted from the book’s Introduction. The scientific revolution began in the 16th century, and it began in Europe. No one knows why it happened nor why it happened where it happened, but when it happened, everything changed. Until the day before yesterday, the imperial architects of the scientific revolution were well satisfied and sleek as seals. An immense tower was going up before their very eyes. The physicists imagined that shortly it would reach the sky; the biologists were satisfied that it had left the ground; and only the theologians were heard to observe that it Read More ›
The Needless Complexity of Modern Calculus
How 18th century mathematicians complicated calculus to avoid the criticisms of a bishop
Bartlett’s Calculus Paper Reviewed in Mathematics Magazine
The paper offers fixes for long-standing flaws in the teaching of elementary calculusJonathan Bartlett tells us, “The review was mixed, but most importantly the reviewer didn’t disagree with the results, only their potential usefulness."
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Mathematics Gives Us Life Skills and Mental Tools
Unfortunately, some professors, like the one who attacked my recent article, seem to prefer pedantryWhat makes you an expert today is not your clarity of thought but rather your ability to conform your thoughts entirely to the constraints of your profession’s vocabulary.
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Doing the Impossible: A Step-by-Step Guide
Often, in life as in calculus, when our implicit assumptions as to why something can’t be done are made explicit, they can be disproven
Walter Bradley Center Fellow Discovers Longstanding Flaw in an Aspect of Elementary Calculus
The flaw doesn't lead directly to wrong answers but it does create confusionThe lead author, Jonathan Bartlett, noted that the likely source of the bad notation was a philosophical issue. Because no one wanted to give differentials that same ontological status as other numbers, everyone presumed that the notational problems were simply the result of this fact, and no one pursued it further.
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