Isaac Newton Research Paper

Isaac Newton was an English physicist born December 25, 1642, in Lincolnshire, England, and died March 31, 1727. Isaac Newton was born on Christmas day; however, his father died shortly before Newton was born (Hibbin, 2015). Newton’s mother remarried when he was three years old (Hibbin, 2015). She left to live with her husband, leaving Newton to be raised by his grandparents (Hibbin, 2015). Newton showed great scientific abilities at a young age and would build mechanical toys (Hibbin, 2015). In 1661, he was accepted to Trinity College, Cambridge (Hibbin, 2015). While Newton is best known for his contributions to calculus, he also contributed to the fields of algebra and geometry. One of Newton’s major contributions to mathematics was

Leibniz was born into an intellectual family, as both his father and grandfather were professors (Pestana, 2014). Leibniz was extremely gifted, and as a young child, he taught himself Latin and read the classics (Pestana, 2014). While he was young, he also thought of creating his own alphabet and language (Pestana, 2014). Leibniz attended school at the University of Leipzig where he received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and at the University of Altdorf where he obtained his doctoral degree (Pestana, 2014). Leibniz is thought to have greatly contributed to the fields of calculus and topology. One of Leibniz’s major contributions to mathematics was the discovery of the fundamental principles of calculus (Nauenberg, 2014, p. 344). Leibniz proved the fundamental theorem of calculus geometrically (Nauenberg, 2014, p. 344). Another major contribution to mathematics occurred during the 1670s when Leibniz invented a calculating machine (Mastin, 2010). This calculating machine was able to multiply, divide, and extract roots (Mastin, 2010). This calculator was much more advanced than the one Pascal previously invented and was a precursor of the computer (Mastin, 2010). Leibniz is also believed to have helped with the development of the binary number system, and his documentation helped in the development of modern computer

He is considered to be one of the greatest modern mathematicians and contributed to the fields of algebra, analysis, and calculus (“Augustin-Louis, Baron Cauchy,” 2016). During the French Revolution, Cauchy’s family left their home in Paris and moved to the village of Arcueil (“Augustin-Louis, Baron Cauchy,” 2016). This is where Cauchy first met mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace (“Augustin-Louis, Baron Cauchy,” 2016). In 1810, Cauchy became a military engineer but still managed to write several mathematical papers (“Augustin-Louis, Baron Cauchy,” 2016). Cauchy greatly contributed to mathematics in 1821 with his work, Cours d'Analyse de l'École Royale Polytechnique (Chaitesipaseut, n.d.). In this work, Cauchy named his criterion for convergence which said, “… a continuous function has a zero between the endpoints where its signs are different” (Chaitesipaseut, n.d.). Cauchy’s ideas presented in this work played a huge role in continuity, integrals, and limits (Chaitesipaseut, n.d.). Another contribution Cauchy made to mathematics was in the field of complex functions (Chaitesipaseut, n.d.). Cauchy justified the limit operations on complex numbers as well as defined continuity for complex functions (Chaitesipaseut, n.d.). A major event that happened during the life of Cauchy was the French Revolution, which caused Cauchy’s family to leave