Probability theory (problem of points)
Teoría de la probabilidad (problema de los puntos)
- Date
- 1654 · confidence high
- Place
- Paris, France
- Credited to
- Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat (correspondence); Christiaan Huygens (first treatise, 1657)
- People
- 👤 Blaise Pascal1623–1662👤 Christiaan Huygens1629–1695👤 Pierre de Fermat1601–1665
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
A solution to the fair division of stakes in an interrupted game by counting cases and expected value, with the help of the arithmetic triangle. It founds the calculus of probability as a mathematical branch.
Cardano had written about games of chance around 1564, but his work was not published until 1663.
What it led to
- the law of large numbers
- statistics
- insurance and actuarial science
- statistical mechanics
- information theory
Built on
- Binomial triangle and early inductionc. 1000
- Cardano (Liber de ludo aleae)
Made possible
- St. Petersburg paradox1738 (planteada en 1713)
- Monte Carlo method1946
- life insurance and mortality tables (Halley, 1693)
- gambling and finance