Calculus is a new and universal mathematical method applicable to many classes of functions, a discovery attributed to Newton and Leibniz. After their work, calculus is no longer an adjunct and extension of ancient Greek geometry, but an independent discipline.
　　Historically, the issue of ownership and priority of calculus results has caused a long-term debate in the mathematics community. Newton did not publish any work on calculus before 1687, although he informed his friends of the results from 1665 to 1687. In particular, in 1669 he gave his short essay "Analysis" to his teacher Isaac Barrow, who in turn gave it to John Collins. Leibniz visited Paris in 1672 and London in 1673, and corresponded with some of the people who worked with Newton. However, he did not publish his work on calculus until 1684. The question arose as to whether Leibniz knew the details of Newton's work, and he was accused of being a plagiarist. However, long after both men died, investigations proved that although Newton had done most of his work before Leibniz, Leibniz was the independent inventor of the main ideas in calculus.

　　The importance of the dispute was not so much the question of who won, but the fact that it divided mathematicians into two factions. One group is British mathematicians who defend Newton; the other group is continental European mathematicians, especially the brothers Daniel Bernoulli and Jacob Bernoulli , who support Leibniz. The two groups are opposed to each other and even hostile. As a result, British and continental European mathematicians stopped exchanging ideas. Because Newton used geometric methods in his main work and first publication on calculus, the Principia. Therefore, for more than a hundred years after Newton's death, the British continued to use geometry as their main tool; while mainland mathematicians continued Leibniz's analysis method, developed it and improved it. The impact of these things was very huge. Not only did British mathematicians fall behind, but mathematics was deprived of the contribution that some of its most talented people could make.