Most of what you think you know about it in relation to Newton is bunk.Newton wasn't the first one to solve it.Newton did not submit a marvellous proof of it.Newton did not submit a proof of it at all.All he submitted was an answer "a cycloid".The cycloid was already a well known curve at the time, due to being proven by Huygens to by a solution to the very similar tautochrone problem.Newton's solution was basically just circling the most likely answer to a multiple choice question.Meanwhile other mathematicians like the Bernoullis actually submitted very good and insightful proofs of the theorem.The story of him solving it in an afternoon is most likely fake and propagated by his socialite niece Catherine Conduitt who had a reputation of telling tall unlikely stories about Newton, such as the story of an apple falling on his head leading to him discovering gravity (an obviously ridiculous story).Catherine Conduitt was a wife of John Conduitt, his first biographer and also his successor as the master of the royal mint.
The famous "I recognize the lion by his claw" quote is popularly taken to imply that the Bernoulli was impressed by the solution, recognizing the mathematical power of it.Meanwhile in reality there was nothing to be impressed by. It was a nonsolution, simply a statement that the correct answer is the cycloid. There was no mathematical prowess demonstrated in it at all, a child could have submitted it. It contained no proof, no argument, nothing but the simple answer.A while after the fact a famous accomplished mathematician David Gregory asked Newton to explain his solution. He couldn't make heads or tails of his solution, suggesting Newton didn't actually have fully fledged solution in mind and was instead just bullshitting his way through and instead just guessing the correct answer on a multiple choice question.
Newton was and is a major political figure who is constantly talked about by conspiracy theorists such as that chinese Yale guy, and this story is the most famous story about him, which is completely fake.
>>523940847Newton was extremely mathematically proficient and intuitive, and in every way superior to David Gregory, nice try though
>>523941507Is that why he wasn't able to explain his "proof" to him? Cute cope.The matter of fact is if he actually ever had a proof of any kind he would have published it, which he didn't.
>>523941631much mathematics is left unpublished, some mathematicians are not used to or interested in satisfying all possible pedants
& the apple did fall from the tree, just so you know
the apple falling story really is something uniquely bizarre and stupid.
>>523944057You are right, it is. It's basically a tall story that was told by his niece in her socialite circle to impress strangers.She would hang out in these caffes with Voltaire and other famous people and just talk a ton and socialiize, and invent various stories to garner attention and pass the time. Including the apple falling on a tree story, which is obviously completely fake.
