2012/11/30 by Mikhail G. Katz, David Sherry
Mathematics · #math.HO #math.CA #math.LO #msc:26E35 #msc:01A85 #msc:03A05
paper · pdf · doi:10.1090/noti921
published as Notices of the American Mathematical Society 59 (2012), no. 11, 1550-1558 · 19 pages, 1 figure. See http://www.ams.org/notices/201211. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1205.0174
arxiv created 2012/11/30 · arxiv updated 2012/12/03
We explore Leibniz's understanding of the differential calculus, and argue that his methods were more coherent than is generally recognized. The foundations of the historical infinitesimal calculus of Newton and Leibniz have been a target of numerous criticisms. Some of the critics believed to have found logical fallacies in its foundations. We present a detailed textual analysis of Leibniz's seminal text Cum Prodiisset, and argue that Leibniz's system for differential calculus was free of contradictions.