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Integral

Analysis
Area Under a Curve

An integral is the continuous analog of a sum, used to calculate areas, volumes, and their generalizations. The major advance in integration came in the 17th century with the independent discovery of the fundamental theorem of calculus by Leibniz and Newton, and Bernhard Riemann later gave a rigorous definition based on a limiting procedure, generalized by Henri Lebesgue in the early 20th century. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Origin Year
1675 1
Connections

Associated With

Source Integral (Wikipedia)
Source Integral (Wikipedia)

Attributed To

Source Integral (Wikipedia)
Source Integral (Wikipedia)

In Branch

Source Integral (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
University of St Andrews, School of Mathematics and StatisticsLeibniz biography, 21 November 1675
Quote, Leibniz biography, 21 November 1675
On 21 November 1675 he wrote a manuscript using the integral f(x)dx notation for the first time.
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Integral (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • lead paragraph and history section
    The major advance in integration came in the 17th century with the independent discovery of the fundamental theorem of calculus by Leibniz and Newton.
  • In Branch: Analysis, lead paragraph
    The major advance in integration came in the 17th century with the independent discovery of the fundamental theorem of calculus by Leibniz and Newton.
  • Associated With: Isaac Newton, lead paragraph
    The major advance in integration came in the 17th century with the independent discovery of the fundamental theorem of calculus by Leibniz and Newton.
  • Associated With: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, lead paragraph
    The major advance in integration came in the 17th century with the independent discovery of the fundamental theorem of calculus by Leibniz and Newton.
  • Attributed To: Isaac Newton, Lead section
    the principles of integration were formulated independently by Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in the late 17th century
  • Attributed To: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Lead section
    the principles of integration were formulated independently by Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in the late 17th century
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Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Associated With: Isaac Newton

The same priority dispute that attaches to the derivative attaches to the integral: Leibniz introduced the integral sign and worked out integration as the inverse of differentiation independently of Newton, publishing his methods from 1684 onward, years before Newton's own fluxional calculus appeared in print. Historians today treat the two as independent co-discoverers of both halves of the fundamental theorem of calculus, so crediting this edge to Newton alone, without its Leibniz counterpart edge on this same entity, understates a genuinely shared origin.

A dissenting reading, from Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and his supportersWikipedia: Leibniz-Newton Calculus Controversy, Wikimedia Foundation

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