Math 420

Extended Essay #3

Due:  Friday, April 22. 

For the third extended essay, you have a choice of three possibilities

1. Consider the conflict between Newton and Leibniz.  Take a position for one or the other and write a "friend of the court brief" (I believe that is the term) in favor of one or the other of them.  In your essay, give the reasons for your support and your arguments against the contrary position.  Ground your reasons in the literature (that is, read about the conflict in several sources and cite them).  You should be careful to make your essay polite and professional.
2. The question arose in class last time about when the teaching of fluxions and fluents in British and American universities changed over to the continental (Leibnizian) approach.  Approaches to this might be The Teaching and History of Mathematics in the United States by Florian Cajori (Google books) and the history of the Analytical Society in Britain.
3. Google Books also has a number of textbooks using fluents and fluxions.  You can get to them by searching for fluxions.  Pick one that looks readable, and report on it, giving examples of taking derivatives, finding maxima and minima, the development of integration, and (if possible) a statement of the fundamental theorem of calculus.