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    A Short History of Probability PDF

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    Vishnuvardhan
    A gambler's dispute in 1654 led to the first formulation of probability theory through a correspondence between Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat. They developed fundamental probability principles to solve problems posed by a French nobleman regarding dice games. While some isolated problems had been studied before, this was the first general theory of probability. The field grew rapidly over the next centuries, finding applications in areas like statistics, genetics, and engineering. It took over 300 years to develop a precise mathematical definition of probability that was widely accepted, which was finally achieved through Kolmogorov's axiomatic approach in the 20th century.

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    A Short History of Probability PDF

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    A gambler's dispute in 1654 led to the first formulation of probability theory through a correspondence between Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat. They developed fundamental probability principles to solve problems posed by a French nobleman regarding dice games. While some isolated problems had been studied before, this was the first general theory of probability. The field grew rapidly over the next centuries, finding applications in areas like statistics, genetics, and engineering. It took over 300 years to develop a precise mathematical definition of probability that was widely accepted, which was finally achieved through Kolmogorov's axiomatic approach in the 20th century.

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    A gambler's dispute in 1654 led to the first formulation of probability theory through a correspondence between Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat. They developed fundamental probability principles to solve problems posed by a French nobleman regarding dice games. While some isolated problems had been studied before, this was the first general theory of probability. The field grew rapidly over the next centuries, finding applications in areas like statistics, genetics, and engineering. It took over 300 years to develop a precise mathematical definition of probability that was widely accepted, which was finally achieved through Kolmogorov's axiomatic approach in the 20th century.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    598 views2 pages

    A Short History of Probability PDF

    Uploaded by

    Vishnuvardhan
    A gambler's dispute in 1654 led to the first formulation of probability theory through a correspondence between Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat. They developed fundamental probability principles to solve problems posed by a French nobleman regarding dice games. While some isolated problems had been studied before, this was the first general theory of probability. The field grew rapidly over the next centuries, finding applications in areas like statistics, genetics, and engineering. It took over 300 years to develop a precise mathematical definition of probability that was widely accepted, which was finally achieved through Kolmogorov's axiomatic approach in the 20th century.

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    A Short History of Probability

    From Calculus, Volume II by Tom M. Apostol (2nd edition, John Wiley & Sons, 1969 ):

    "A gambler's dispute in 1654 led to the creation of a mathematical theory of probability by
    two famous French mathematicians, Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat. Antoine Gombaud,
    Chevalier de Méré, a French nobleman with an interest in gaming and gambling questions,
    called Pascal's attention to an apparent contradiction concerning a popular dice game. The
    game consisted in throwing a pair of dice 24 times; the problem was to decide whether or not
    to bet even money on the occurrence of at least one "double six" during the 24 throws. A
    seemingly well-established gambling rule led de Méré to believe that betting on a double six
    in 24 throws would be profitable, but his own calculations indicated just the opposite.

    This problem and others posed by de Méré led to an exchange of letters between Pascal and
    Fermat in which the fundamental principles of probability theory were formulated for the first
    time. Although a few special problems on games of chance had been solved by some Italian
    mathematicians in the 15th and 16th centuries, no general theory was developed before this
    famous correspondence.

    The Dutch scientist Christian Huygens, a teacher of Leibniz, learned of this correspondence
    and shortly thereafter (in 1657) published the first book on probability; entitled De
    Ratiociniis in Ludo Aleae, it was a treatise on problems associated with gambling. Because of
    the inherent appeal of games of chance, probability theory soon became popular, and the
    subject developed rapidly during the 18th century. The major contributors during this period
    were Jakob Bernoulli (1654-1705) and Abraham de Moivre (1667-1754).

    In 1812 Pierre de Laplace (1749-1827) introduced a host of new ideas and mathematical
    techniques in his book, Théorie Analytique des Probabilités. Before Laplace, probability
    theory was solely concerned with developing a mathematical analysis of games of chance.
    Laplace applied probabilistic ideas to many scientific and practical problems. The theory of
    errors, actuarial mathematics, and statistical mechanics are examples of some of the
    important applications of probability theory developed in the l9th century.

    Like so many other branches of mathematics, the development of probability theory has been
    stimulated by the variety of its applications. Conversely, each advance in the theory has
    enlarged the scope of its influence. Mathematical statistics is one important branch of applied
    probability; other applications occur in such widely different fields as genetics, psychology,
    economics, and engineering. Many workers have contributed to the theory since Laplace's
    time; among the most important are Chebyshev, Markov, von Mises, and Kolmogorov.
    One of the difficulties in developing a mathematical theory of probability has been to arrive
    at a definition of probability that is precise enough for use in mathematics, yet comprehensive
    enough to be applicable to a wide range of phenomena. The search for a widely acceptable
    definition took nearly three centuries and was marked by much controversy. The matter was
    finally resolved in the 20th century by treating probability theory on an axiomatic basis. In
    1933 a monograph by a Russian mathematician A. Kolmogorov outlined an axiomatic
    approach that forms the basis for the modern theory. (Kolmogorov's monograph is available
    in English translation as Foundations of Probability Theory, Chelsea, New York, 1950.)
    Since then the ideas have been refined somewhat and probability theory is now part of a more
    general discipline known as measure theory."

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