Talk:Mathematical analysis/Archive 1

message: As a native French speaker who's had little exposure to English terminology, I wonder what the differences in meaning and use between "analysis" and "calculus" are. I know that "calculus" is more frequent than "analysis", while "analyse" is more frequent in French than "calcul" in the sense of "calculus", but I don't know much more. _R_ 00:23, 16 Oct 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Briefly, calculus is beginning analysis, or analysis is advanced calculus. Calculus concentrates more on computation (primarily involving derivatives and integrals) and is taught to advanced high school students, or typically first or second year college students, especially engineering students. Analysis is more theoretical and concentrates more on proofs and is taught in a series of courses following calculus, beginning typically with undergraduate math majors, and continuing through graduate school. Whether these terms constitute "faux ami" I can't say, my is French is tres mal ;-) Paul August 02:28, Oct 16, 2004 (UTC)
Thanks! It seems then that "analysis" always translates to "analyse" and "calculus" (alone) also translates to "analyse" while "differential calculus" (resp "integral", etc.) translates to "calcul différentiel" (resp. "intégral", etc.) The translation problem is further complicated by the fact that "calcul" usually means "computation" or sometimes "counting". Interwikis to and from fr: may become quite a mess... _R_ 14:12, 16 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  False friends 

message: " Historically, analysis originated in the 17th century, with the invention of calculus by Newton and Leibniz. "
This is not only POV but false. 
One reference is here: 
:While I agree there should probably be some mention of other origins of analysis on the page, giving Madhava priority over Newton and Leibniz doesn't seem very warranted (has his influence been verified?), and I think we should take down the POV sticker: have this debate elsewhere, like in the 'Indian contributions' section to the 'History of mathematics' page. Amp
:Interesting. See this MacTutor History article for a more balanced appraisal of Madhava's work, which does seem to be impressive. Perhaps the History section should start with a refence to Madhava, followed by saying that calculus was "independently invented" by Newton and Leibniz (I assume there is no suggestion that they knew of Madhava's work ?). Gandalf61 11:38, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)
::Response:It is quite possible that it was developed independently by Newton and Leibniz, but I do not agree that Madhava should not be mentioned in History of Mathematical Analysis at all, and should only be limited to History of Mathematics, especially when some historians of mathematics have quoted things like:
"    ...We may consider Madhava to have been the founder of mathematical analysis. Some of his discoveries in this field show him to have possessed extraordinary intuition. [GJ, P 293] " [G Joseph]
This page gives the wrong impression that mathematical analysis started with Newton and Leibniz, while Madhava pre-dated them by 300 years. I am restoring the POV tag.
::To clarify, when I mentioned "the History section" I meant the History section within the Mathematical Analysis article itself. I don't think anyone is suggesting that Madhava should not be mentioned in this article. Anyway, in an attempt to move things along, I have added a paragraph on Greek and Indian contributions to analysis that pre-date Newton/Leibniz, including Madhava. And I've removed the POV tag. Gandalf61 15:39, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)
Just to be trendy, I wonder if there isn't one or two Muslim mathematicians who could be found to have priority in the discovery of Mathematical Analysis.66.82.9.58 14:17, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  EUROCENTRISM: History of Mathematical Analysis