In mathematics before the 1970s, the term umbral calculus referred to the surprising similarity between seemingly unrelated polynomial equations and certain shadowy techniques used to 'prove' them. These techniques were introduced by John Blissard (1861) and are sometimes called Blissard's symbolic method. They are often attributed to Édouard Lucas (or James Joseph Sylvester), who used the technique extensively.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Eric Temple Bell attempted to set the umbral calculus on a rigorous footing.
In the 1970s, Steven Roman, Gian-Carlo Rota, and others developed the umbral calculus by means of linear functionals on spaces of polynomials. Currently, umbral calculus refers to the study of Sheffer sequences, including polynomial sequences of binomial type and Appell sequences, but may encompass in its penumbra systematic correspondence techniques of the calculus of finite differences.
Read more about Umbral Calculus: The 19th-century Umbral Calculus, Umbral Taylor Series, Bell and Riordan, The Modern Umbral Calculus
Famous quotes containing the word calculus:
“I try to make a rough music, a dance of the mind, a calculus of the emotions, a driving beat of praise out of the pain and mystery that surround me and become me. My poems are meant to make your mind get up and shout.”
—Judith Johnson Sherwin (b. 1936)