Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton, later Sir Isaac Newton, was born in 1642 and entered Cambridge University in 1660.

Isaac Newton quickly mastered all the math known at the time.

In 1665, the year of the Great Plague, Isaac Newton invented his method of fluxions.

Sir Isaac Newton was a world renowned mathematician.

What was Isaac Newton' s method of fluxion?

The method of Fluxion discovered by Isaac Newton was a method of dealing with varying quantities. If a quantity, say x, was a function of time t, then Isaac Newton used the notation:

 .

In mechanics, are still used to represent velocities in the x and y directions respectively.

Isaac Newton and the Great Plague

During the Great Plague, Isaac Newton retired from Cambridge to his home in Lincolnshire. At his home in Lincolnshire, Isaac Newton investigated various applications of his method, including the equations of tangents. His treatise on calculus was written in 1671 but it publication did not take place until 1736, nine years after his death.

Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton

In Principia Mathematica written by Isaac Newton (1687), Isaac Newton dealt with both terrestrial and celestial mechanics. Isaac Newton relied on geometry and did not use fluxions.

Back to Math help list of topics