The Doctrine of Chances: Or, a Method of Calculating the Probability of Events in Play (Cambridge Library Collection - Mathematics) - Softcover

Moivre, Abraham De

Softcover

ISBN 10: 110806180X ISBN 13: 9781108061803

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2013

Synopsis

A Huguenot exile in England, the French mathematician Abraham de Moivre (1667–1754) formed friendships with such luminaries as Edmond Halley and Isaac Newton. Making his living from private tuition, he became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1697 and published papers on a range of topics. Probability theory had been pioneered by Pascal, Fermat and Huygens, with further development by the Bernoullis. Originally published in 1718, The Doctrine of Chances was the first English textbook on the new science and so influential that for a time the whole subject was known by the title of the work. Reissued here is the revised and expanded 1738 second edition which contains the remarkable discovery that when a coin is tossed many times, the binomial distribution may be approximated by the normal distribution. This version of the central limit theorem stands as one of de Moivre's most significant contributions to mathematics.

About this title

Book Description

The French mathematician Abraham de Moivre (1667-1754) is remembered for his formula which relates complex numbers and trigonometry. Reissued here is the revised and expanded 1738 second edition of the influential textbook on probability theory that he first published in English in 1718.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 110806180X
• ISBN 13: 9781108061803
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 280