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• Differential and integral calculus

Calculus is a field of mathematics that deals with rates of change and motion. Suppose that one nation fires a rocket carrying a bomb into the atmosphere, aimed at a second nation. The first nation must know exactly what path the rocket will follow if the attack is to be successful. And the second nation must know the same information if it is to protect itself against the attack. In this example, calculus is used by mathematicians in both nations to study the motion of the rocket.

Calculus was originally developed in the late 1600s by two great scientific minds, English physicist Isaac Newton (1642–1727) and German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716). Both scholars presented their ideas at about the same time, so credit for the invention of calculus must go to both. The debate over credit at the time, however,...