Leibniz's rigorous foundation of infinitesimal geometry by means of Riemannian sums (Q1868159): Difference between revisions

The author discusses some aspects of an important Leibniz manuscript of 1693 on infinitesimal geometry which he himself edited and published three centuries after its writing. It contained an analysis of the integrability of cretin simple functions (or curves) that bears some resemblance to the manner in which Riemann refined Cauchy's definition of the integral as the limiting value (if it existed) of a sequence of partition sums. On the evidence provided, however, the dissimilarity is substantial; for Leibniz allowed infinitesimal differences between the values of the given curves and the approximating constructs, and did not systematically deploy both upper and lower sums.