The Analytical Society was a group of individuals in early-19th century Britain whose aim was to promote the use of Leibnizian or analytical calculus as opposed to Newtonian calculus. The latter system came into being in the 18th century as an invention of Sir Isaac Newton, and was in use throughout Great Britain for political rather than practical reasons. The Newtonian system of fluxions and fluents proved cumbersome to use, and less flexible and usable than Leibnizian calculus, which was used by the rest of Europe. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, etc. ... Calculus is a central branch of mathematics, developed from algebra and geometry, and built on two major complementary ideas. ... Sir Isaac Newton in Knellers portrait of 1689. ... Fluxion was Isaac Newtons term for the derivative of a fluent, or continuous function (see: Calculus). ... Fluent was the term used by Isaac Newton to denote a continuous function. ... Gottfried Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (July 1, 1646 in Leipzig - November 14, 1716 in Hannover) was a German philosopher, scientist, mathematician, diplomat, librarian, and lawyer of Sorb descent. ... Calculus is a central branch of mathematics, developed from algebra and geometry, and built on two major complementary ideas. ...

The Society was founded in 1812 over a Sunday morning breakfast. Its membership originally consisted of a group of Cambridge students led by Robert Woodhouse. Woodhouse, a professor at the university, had published a series of papers that promoted Leibnizian calculus as early as 1803. These papers proved difficult to understand and thus failed to promote the idea. Other charter members included Charles Babbage, Sir John Herschel and George Peacock. It soon attracted many new members, predominantly students. Robert Woodhouse (April 28, 1773 - December 23, 1827), mathematician. ... Charles Babbage Charles Babbage (December 26, 1791 – October 18, 1871) was an English mathematician, analytical philosopher and (proto-) computer scientist who originated the idea of a programmable computer. ... John Herschel Sir John Frederick William Herschel (7 March 1792 – 11 May 1871) was an English mathematician and astronomer. ... George Peacock George Peacock (April 9, 1791 - November 8, 1858) was an English mathematician. ...

The first solid action by the Society did not take place until 1816, when a French textbook on analytical calculus was translated and distributed. This was followed in 1817 by the introduction, by Peacock, of Leibnizian symbols in that year's examinations in the local senate-house.

Both the exam and the textbook met with little criticism until 1819, when both were criticised by a D.M. Peacock. However, the reforms were encouraged by younger members of Cambridge University. George Peacock successfully encouraged a colleague, Richard Gwatkin of St John's College at Cambridge University, to adopt the new notation in his exams.

Use of Leibnizian notation began to spread after this. In 1820, the notation was used by William Whewell, a previously neutral but influential Cambridge University faculty member, in his examinations. In 1821, Peacock again used Leibnizian notation in his examinations, and the notation became well established. William Whewell William Whewell (May 24, 1794 – March 6, 1866) was an Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian and historian of science. ...

The Society followed its success by publishing two volumes of examples showing the new method. One was by George Peacock on differential and integral calculus; the other was by Herschel on the calculus of finite differences. They were joined in this by Whewell, who in 1819 published a book, An Elementary Treatise on Mechanics, which used the new notation and which became a standard textbook on the subject.

Sir John Ainz, a pupil of Peacock's, published a notable paper in 1826 which showed how to apply Leibnizian calculus on various physical problems.

These activities did not go unnoticed at other universities in Great Britain, and soon they followed Cambridge's example. By 1830, Leibnizian calculus had superseded Newtonian calculus. It soon underwent constructive use, for instance in devising and expressing James Clerk Maxwell's equations. James Clerk Maxwell (June 13, 1831–November 5, 1879) was a Scottish mathematical physicist, born in Edinburgh. ...

In 1832, the Society, which had been renamed the Cambridge Philosophical Society in 1819, incorporated officially. The members included Peacock and mathematician Oliver Heaviside. This society still exists today. The Cambridge Philosophical Society (CPS) is a scientific society at University of Cambridge. ... Oliver Heaviside (May 18, 1850 – February 3, 1925) was a self-taught English engineer, mathematician and physicist who adapted complex numbers to the study of electrical circuits, developed techniques for applying Laplace transforms to the solution of differential equations, reformulated Maxwells field equations in terms of electric and magnetic...

External link

• Official site of the Cambridge Philosophical Society