Games, Gods, and Gambling: A History of Probability and Statistical IdeasThe development of gambling techniques led to the beginning of modern statistics, and this absorbing history illustrates the science's rise with vignettes from the lives of Galileo, Fermat, Pascal, and others. Fascinating allusions to the classics, archaeology, biography, poetry, and fiction endow this volume with universal appeal. 1962 edition. |
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Games, gods, and gambling: a history of probability and statistical ideas
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictThis chronicle of predictability was deemed "an exciting, highly readable history of mathematics for both the scholar and general reader" by LJ's reviewer, who added that "long mathematical ... Read full review
Contents
| 22 | |
| 70 | |
Appmdix Page | 79 |
Abraham de Moivre and The Doctrine of Chances | 161 |
Tmrulaud by Jean Edmiston | 179 |
Galileos Sopra Iz Smperte dzi Dadi | 192 |
13 | 195 |
55 | 208 |
Letters between Fermat and Pascal and Carcavi | 229 |
61 | 234 |
81 | 248 |
From The Doctrine of Charms by A de Moivre | 254 |
98 | 269 |
Common terms and phrases
32 pistoles Abraham de Moivre algebra appear Arithmetic Triangle astragali astragalus Bemoulli binomial calculations Carcavi Cardano cards Chevalier Chevalier de Méré combinations combinatorial Conseiller du Roi correspondence Cour de Parlement death definite dice dice-games diflicult Doctrine of Chances equal Father Mersenne favourable Fermat field figure finally find finished first edition first game first player five fractions France Francois French Galileo games of chance give Graunt Huygens idea infinite interesting James Bernoulli Jean King late leamed Leibnitz letters Logarithm London Marin Mersenne mathematical mathematicians Méré method Moivre Moivre’s Montmort multiply Newton Nicholas Nicholas Bernoulli number of games Paris Pascal Pepys Pierre play possibly probability problem of points proposition published Ratio remarks Reverend Father Roberval scientific Seigneur Sieur solution stakes suppose Tartaglia theorem theory things third thought three dice three games throws Toulouse treatise wins writing written wrote
Popular passages
Page 123 - I do not know what I may appear to the world ; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
Page 110 - No man is born into the world, whose work Is not born with him; there is always work, And tools to work withal, for those who will; And blessed are the horny hands of toil!
Page vii - And how beguile you? Death has no repose Warmer and deeper than that Orient sand Which hides the beauty and bright faith of those Who made the Golden Journey to Samarkand.
Page 130 - The years like great black oxen tread the world, And God the herdsman goads them on behind, And I am broken by their passing feet.
Page 1 - The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
Page vii - What shall we tell you? Tales, marvellous tales Of ships and stars and isles where good men rest, Where nevermore the rose of sunset pales, And winds and shadows fall toward the West...
References to this book
Interpreting Fear, Crime, Risk, and Unsafety: Conceptualisation and Measurement Gabry Vanderveen No preview available - 2006 |
The Mental Models Theory of Reasoning: Refinements and Extensions Walter Schaeken No preview available - 2007 |
Bibliographic information
| Title | Games, Gods, and Gambling: A History of Probability and Statistical Ideas Dover classics of science and mathematics |
| Author | Florence Nightingale David |
| Edition | unabridged, reprint |
| Publisher | Courier Corporation, 1998 |
| ISBN | 0486400239, 9780486400235 |
| Length | 275 pages |
| Subjects | › › Mathematics / Probability & Statistics / General Science / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |