Читать книгу String Theory For Dummies - Andrew Zimmerman Jones - Страница 102

To study the physical world, Newton had to develop new mathematical tools. One of the tools he developed was a type of math that we call calculus. At the same time Newton invented it, philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Leibniz also created calculus completely independently! Newton needed calculus to perform his analysis of the natural world. Leibniz, on the other hand, developed it mainly to explain certain geometric problems.

Think for a moment how amazing this really is. A purely mathematical construct, calculus, provided key insights into the physical systems that Newton explored. Alternately, the physical analysis that Newton performed led him to create calculus. In other words, this is a case where mathematics and physics seemed to help build upon each other! One of the major successes of string theory is that it has provided motivation for important mathematical developments that have gone on to be useful in other realms.