Although it is likely that many students of calculus are familiar with the idea of ​​L'Hôpital's rule, which concerns the calculation of limits which initially result in indefinite forms such as zero over zero or infinity over infinity by taking the derivative of the numerator and denominator as many times as necessary in order to calculate a definite limit, most are completely unfamiliar with the mathematical thinkers of the 17th century century that gave birth to this idea. Born in 1661, Guillaume François Antoine Marquis de L'Hôpital grew up in a military family, as his father Anne-Alexandre de L'Hôpital served in the French army as lieutenant general of the king's army and his mother Elisabeth Gobelin. was the daughter of the intendant of the king's army. Despite this origin story rooted in the battlefield, L'Hôpital first demonstrated a level of aptitude in mathematical studies when he solved one of Pascal's proposed problems concerning cycloids in a matter of days. Although L'Hôpital clearly demonstrated both the drive and the ability to behave as a competent mathematician in the nascent field of calculus, he first enlisted in the French army, rising through the ranks to to lead a cavalry regiment. captain; Yet even his nights were spent in his tent, working on mathematics textbooks while L'Hôpital devoted his free time and passions to studying geometry alone. Bored with military life and increasingly longing for the pull he felt from his true calling, L'Hôpital soon left the army, claiming that his severe myopia prevented him from serving at his post as effectively as necessary. , but reports on the reality of this disease differ. Regardless, L'Hôpital quickly turned its attention to the growing field of computing. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay As an aristocrat in Paris, L'Hôpital joined many organizations and intellectual circles who were dedicated to dedicating their time and energy to discover as much as possible they could learn about the world around them through science, mathematics and other curious activities. It was within one of these groups that L'Hôpital first encountered Johann Bernoulli, one of four world leaders in the growing field of differentiable calculus during the last years of the 17th century. At the time, Isaac Newton, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and the Bernoulli brothers Jacob and Johann were considered the four most influential and leading thinkers in the emerging study of differentiable calculus. L'Hôpital, seeing the potential in his interactions with Bernoulli, encouraged him to speak and lecture both in the public forum of these intellectual groups, notably in venues such as the French Academy of Sciences, including L The Hospital was vice-president twice, but also as the ancestral home of the L'Hôpital family. It was within these walls that Bernoulli agreed to give private lessons to the novice but skillful French mathematician, a contract which earned him around three hundred francs a year for the duration of the interaction but cost him the exclusive rights to his research and his mathematical discoveries; as one can imagine, this agreement would later give rise to resentment and unrest. Thus, the growing exchange of information between L'Hôpital and other mathematicians and pioneers in the field of calculation, notably Johann Bernoulli, allowed him to become known at the end of the 17th century. In 1694, L'Hôpital Hôpital published what is widely considered the first textbook.