Math & science · c. 1680

Calculus

Newton and Leibniz independently invent the mathematics of change and accumulation.

Newton developed fluxions around 1666 and Leibniz published his notation in 1684. Calculus made it possible to write physical laws as differential equations, the language of nearly all later physics and engineering.

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Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

Analytic geometry 1637
Algebra 820

What it led to 9

Newtonian mechanics 1687
Least squares 1805
Fourier analysis 1822
Carnot's heat engine theory 1824
Non-Euclidean geometry 1829
Maxwell's equations 1865
Set theory 1874
Rocket equation 1903
Backpropagation 1986