Midterm Output

in

Math E
Submitted by:
Jesha Carl C. Jotojot
MWF 2:00 - 3:00 PM

Submitted to:
Mrs. Roma Anoos

I. Summary
Mathematicians of the of the earlier centuries never imagined the universe
as a diverse and complicated series and succession of things. They tend to see
the universe as a regular order of things.
However, one man set himself apart from this belief. Leibniz viewed the
universe as a body of eternal truths describing an objectively known reality. This
was brought about by his religious beliefs wherein he claimed that the world's
perfection and beauty is the design of God, the perfect geometrician. He also
believed that the universe, as simple as it may seem, consists of continuous
relationships that form series and patterns for nature makes no leaps and great
things would always have to start with small things. With this, further studies
must be conducted in order to discover these hidden series and relationships.
Because of his passion and interest to discover the smaller relationships
consisting of the general order of things, he made various researches and
experiments. He drew sequences on the succession of regular polygons
progressively filling a circle by way of inscribed polygons and a sequence of
velocities decreasing towards zero. Mathematicians at that time settled with lines
to depict the absence of gaps and discontinuities but Leibniz thought beyond that
and had proved such continuity with his drawings of patterns of polygons filling
up the circle without making a leap.
In addition, Leibniz also supported his claim on the continuity with the logic
that although ellipses and parabolas look dissimilar, a parabola can be regarded

as the limit obtainable from an ellipse by letting one focus go to infinity. He reated
this relationship with the biological order of the universe.Leibniz believed that
undiscovered classes fall between identified classes of species. The Law of
Continuiity tells us that there can be no gaps in the entire system and implies that
every species' makeup is related to one another. This theory is what he called as
the Great Chain of Being. Being evident in almost all cases, Leibniz believed that
this all-pervasive continuity entails that every physical ocurrence can and must
be explained in preceding states. And just as "there is a perfect continuity
reigning in the order of successive things, so there is a similar order".
Because of Leibniz's proofs to his theory, he Law of Continuity became not
merely a fact still needed to be proven but rather an assupmtion already widely
used and which had already served as a basis for other mathematicians'
theories.

II. Points of Agreement

I agree with Leibniz's notion that all great things always need to start from
small things. Indeed, nothing cannot be accomplished without the tiniest bit of
element needed. The absence of such will make the thing different and not what
it should be. I believe that the best way to get to know better of a thing is to know
it detail by detail. We need to know every single detail and attribute to understand
why it is the thing that it is now. This logic is analogous to eating food wherein
digesting the entire thing is too much. What we should do is to chew on it piece

by piece.
I also agree with Leibniz's religious view on the continuity of things. I
believe that God made the universe with a specific pattern and order and that
each one of us is interrelated with one another. Indeed, there is a perfect
continuity reigning in the order of successive things. There is a pre-ordered
harmony created by God. We may observe or even have experienced first-hand
the connection that we have with other inhabitants in the world. God created the
world in a pattern that we are already starting to unveil as the time passes by.

III. Points of Disagreement

I somehow disgaree with the assumption that everything follows a
continuous pattern or order. We have to remember that every general rule always
have its corresponding exemptions. There are cases, as proven by further
studies, wherein the Law of Continuity does not apply. Leibniz's Continuity
proved to be based on innocence and ideals and had failed to consider cases
that deviations from the general order of things.
I also somehow disagree with the article's emphasis in the need to
discover everything about the world. I always believe that too much thirst for
knowledge may bring us into great perils. It is true that knowledge is power;
however, there are some phenomena that are just so hard to explain and would
always be left as a mystery. There are just some things that cannot be answered
by science.

Over the years, we may have heard or even met people who have done
horrible things just to obtain the knowledge that they desire. They exhaust all
possible means and sadly, even do things that may possibly hurt other people.

IV. Realization
Upon reading this article, I have realized that the world is truly amazing.
Every element composing it is unconsciously related to one another ever since it
was created. I was also amazed with God's brilliance in creating the universe. He
created the world in such prefection and wisdom which only He is capable of
doing.
This article had also helped me to appreciate calculus even more because
I have now realized how difficult was it for mathematicians at that time to
formulate such rules and theorems that we are presently using. This made me
realize that instead of complaining on how hard the subject is, we should try our
very bests to understand and give importance to what our predecessors have
made.
Lastly, this article also made me realize the importance of not settling for
what is conventional. We must also be innovative and try to create new ideas for
it is through innovation where Leibniz have discovered his Law of Continuity. It is
also through his innovation that we are now afforded with variuos mathematical
models derived upon the Continuity which are of great help in our studies.