Leibniz vs.

Newton,
Pre-May Seminar
April 11, 2011

Leibniz vs. Newton,

or Pre-May
Bernoulli
vs.
Seminar
April 11, 2011
Bernoulli?

Jakob Bernoulli (1654-1705)

Jakob Bernoulli (1654-1705)

and Johann Bernoulli (16671748)

Acta Eruditorum, June 1696

I, Johann Bernoulli, address the most brilliant
mathematicians in the world.

Acta Eruditorum, June 1696

I, Johann Bernoulli, address the most brilliant
mathematicians in the world. Nothing is more
attractive to intelligent people than an
honest, challenging problem, whose possible
solution will bestow fame and remain as a
lasting monument.

Acta Eruditorum, June 1696

I, Johann Bernoulli, address the most brilliant
mathematicians in the world. Nothing is more
attractive to intelligent people than an
honest, challenging problem, whose possible
solution will bestow fame and remain as a
lasting monument. Following the example set
by Pascal, Fermat, etc., I hope to gain the
gratitude of the whole scientific community
by placing before the finest mathematicians
of our time a problem which will test their
methods and the strength of their intellect.

Acta Eruditorum, June 1696

I, Johann Bernoulli, address the most brilliant
mathematicians in the world. Nothing is more
attractive to intelligent people than an honest,
challenging problem, whose possible solution
will bestow fame and remain as a lasting
monument. Following the example set by Pascal,
Fermat, etc., I hope to gain the gratitude of the
whole scientific community by placing before the
finest mathematicians of our time a problem
which will test their methods and the strength of
their intellect. If someone communicates to me
the solution of the proposed problem, I shall
publicly declare him worthy of praise.

Brachistochrone Problem
Given two points A and B in a
vertical plane, what is the curve
traced out by a point acted on only
by gravity, which starts at A and
reaches B in the shortest time.

Galileo Galilei
"If one considers motions with the
same initial and terminal points then
the shortest distance between them
being a straight line, one might think
that the motion along it needs least
time. It turns out that this is not so.
- Discourses on Mechanics (1588)

Galileos curves of quickest

descent, 1638

Galileos curves of quickest

descent, 1638

Curve of Fastest Descent

Solutions and Commentary

June

1696: Problem proposed in Acta

Solutions and Commentary

June

1696: Problem proposed in Acta

Bernoulli: the lion is known by its
claw when reading anonymous
Royal Society paper

Solutions and Commentary

June

1696: Problem proposed in Acta

Bernoulli: the lion is known by its
claw when reading anonymous
Royal Society paper
May 1697: solutions in Acta
Eruditorum from Bernoulli, Bernoulli,
Newton, Leibniz, lHospital

Solutions and Commentary

June

1696: Problem proposed in Acta

Bernoulli: the lion is known by its claw
when reading anonymous Royal Society
paper
May 1697: solutions in Acta Eruditorum
from Bernoulli, Bernoulli, Newton,
Leibniz, lHospital
1699: Leibniz reviews solutions from
Acta

The bait
...there are fewer who are likely to solve
our excellent problems, aye, fewer even
among the very mathematicians who
boast that [they]... have wonderfully
extended its bounds by means of the
golden theorems which (they thought)
were known to no one, but which in fact
had long previously been published by
others.

The Lion
... in the midst of the hurry of the great
recoinage, did not come home till four (in
the afternoon) from the Tower very much
tired, but did not sleep till he had solved
it, which was by four in the morning.

I do not love to be
dunned [pestered]
and teased by
foreigners about
mathematical
things ...

Nicolas Fatio de Duillier

I am now fully convinced by the evidence
itself on the subject that Newton is the
first inventor of this calculus, and the
earliest by many years;

Nicolas Fatio de Duillier

I am now fully convinced by the evidence
itself on the subject that Newton is the
first inventor of this calculus, and the
earliest by many years; whether Leibniz,
its second inventor, may have borrowed
anything from him, I should rather leave to
the judgment of those who had seen the
letters of Newton, and his original
manuscripts.

Nicolas Fatio de Duillier

I am now fully convinced by the evidence
itself on the subject that Newton is the first
inventor of this calculus, and the earliest by
many years; whether Leibniz, its second
inventor, may have borrowed anything from
him, I should rather leave to the judgment of
those who had seen the letters of Newton,
and his original manuscripts. Neither the
more modest silence of Newton, nor the
unremitting vanity of Leibniz to claim on
every occasion the invention of the calculus
for himself, will deceive anyone who will
investigate, as I have investigated, those
records.

Table IV from Acta, 1697

Snells Law for Light

Refraction,
Fermats Principle of Least
Time

The math
Sin

Cos

Sec
1/sqrt[1+Tan^2 ]
1/sqrt[1+(dy/dx)^2]
Galileo: v = sqrt[2gy]

Sin v = constant

Cycloid

Jakob challenges Johann

Given a starting point and a vertical
line, of all the cycloids from the
starting point with the same
horizontal base, which will allow the
point subjected only to uniform
gravity, to reach the vertical line
most quickly.

Cycloid: the Helen of

geometers

Cycloid: the Helen of

geometers

Gilles Personne de
Roberval (16021675)
at the College Royal
1634-1675.

Cycloid: the Helen of

geometers

Gilles Personne de
Roberval (16021675)
at the College Royal
1634-1675.
Area under One Arch
= 3 x Area of
Generating Circle

Cycloid: the Helen of

geometers

Gilles Personne de
Roberval (1602-1675)
at the College Royal
1634-1675.
Area under One Arch
= 3 x Area of
Generating Circle
Never publishes, but
Torricelli does.

Cycloid and Pascal

23

November 1654: Religious

Ecstasy

Cycloid and Pascal

23

November 1654: Religious

Ecstasy
1658: Toothache!

Cycloid and Pascal

23

November 1654: Religious

Ecstasy
1658: Toothache!
Pascal proposes a contest

Cycloid and Pascal

23

November 1654: Religious

Ecstasy
1658: Toothache!
Pascal proposes a contest
Controversy!

Calculus of Variations

Calculus of Variations
Bernoulli

& Bernoulli

Calculus of Variations
Bernoulli
Euler

& Bernoulli

Calculus of Variations
Bernoulli

& Bernoulli

Euler
Lagrange

Calculus of Variations
Bernoulli

& Bernoulli

Euler
Lagrange
Gauss

Calculus of Variations
Bernoulli

& Bernoulli

Euler
Lagrange
Gauss
Poisson

Calculus of Variations
Bernoulli

& Bernoulli

Euler
Lagrange
Gauss
Poisson
Cauchy

Calculus of Variations
Bernoulli

& Bernoulli

Euler
Lagrange
Gauss
Poisson
Cauchy
Hilbert

Sources

Great Feuds in Mathematics Hal Hellman

Applied Differential Equations Murray R.
Spiegel
Differential Equations George F. Simmons
Isaac Newton, A Biography Louis T. More
A History of Mathematics (2nd ed) Carl B.
Boyer
http://www-history.mcs.stand.ac.uk/HistTopics/Brachistochrone.html