Treatise of Fluxions

work by Maclaurin

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July 14, 2026

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Colin Maclaurin's Treatise of Fluxions (1742) was a defense of Sir Isaac Newton's calculus, also known as the method of fluxions. Written in response to criticisms that Newton's reasoning was flawed, Maclaurin's work provided a geometric foundation for fluxions.12

The treatise is significant for several reasons:
* It offered solutions to various geometric problems.
* It established that homogeneous rotating fluid masses form ellipsoids of revolution.1
* It presented the first correct theory for distinguishing between maxima and minima, crucial for understanding multiple points of curves.1
* It included a detailed discussion of infinite series, including Taylor series, which are now named in his honor.13

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Colin Maclaurin
His two-volume Treatise of Fluxions (1742), a defense of the Newtonian method, was written in reply to criticisms by Bishop George Berkeley of England that Newton’s calculus was based on faulty reasoning. Apart from providing a geometric framework for Newton’s method of fluxions, the treatise is notable…
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His two-volume Treatise of Fluxions (1742), a defense of the Newtonian method, was written in reply to criticisms by Bishop George Berkeley of England that Newton’s calculus was based on faulty reasoning. Apart from providing a geometric framework for Newton’s method of fluxions, the treatise is notable…
Read More

mathematics
Newton and Leibniz
…1742 of Colin Maclaurin’s influential Treatise of Fluxions.
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…1742 of Colin Maclaurin’s influential Treatise of Fluxions.
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