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In the early seventeenth century, the outcome of something as simple as a dice roll was consigned to the realm of unknowable chance. Mathematicians largely agreed that it was impossible to predict the probability of an occurrence. Then, in 1654, Blaise Pascal wrote to Pierre de Fermat explaining that he had discovered how to calculate risk. The two collaborated to develop what is now known as probability theory — a concept that allows us to think rationally about decisions and events. In The Unfinished Game, Keith Devlin masterfully chronicles Pascal and Fermat's mathematical breakthrough, connecting a centuries-old discovery with its remarkable impact on the modern world.
In the early seventeenth century, the outcome of something as simple as a dice roll was consigned to the realm of unknowable chance. Mathematicians largely agreed that it was impossible to predict the probability of an occurrence. Then, in 1654, Blaise Pascal wrote to Pierre de Fermat explaining that he had discovered how to calculate risk. The two collaborated to develop what is now known as probability theory — a concept that allows us to think rationally about decisions and events. In The Unfinished Game, Keith Devlin masterfully chronicles Pascal and Fermat's mathematical breakthrough, connecting a centuries-old discovery with its remarkable impact on the modern world.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
About the Author-
Keith Devlin is a Senior Researcher and Executive Director at Stanford’s Center for the Study of Language and Information, a Consulting Professor in the Department of Mathematics, and a co-founder of the Stanford Media X research network. National Public Radio’s “Math Guy,” he is the author of over twenty-five books. He lives in Stanford, California.
Reviews-
Starred review from September 1, 2008 Prior to the development of statistics in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, even rationalists were convinced that no human could speculate on the future. Devlin, NPR's "Math Guy" and the author of numerous books on the subject, shows us how that belief was transformed through the 1654 correspondence between mathematicians Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat. Devlin uses the critical letter from Pascal to Fermat in which he discusses "the problem of points"-that is, how to determine the probable outcome of a game of chance-as a framework for a history of probability theory and risk management, fields which now dominate our social, political and financial lives. Devlin interweaves the specific issues discussed in that famous letter with the work of other mathematicians, like the London businessman John Graunt, whose ingenious, groundbreaking work analyzing London parish death records helped predict a breakout of bubonic plague and essentially founded the science of epidemiology. Devlin also introduces the remarkable Bernoulli family, eight of whom were distinguished mathematicians, and the Reverend Thomas Bayes, whose formula has enabled the calculation of risk in a variety of fields. This informative book is a lively, quick read for anyone who wonders about the science of predicting what's next and how deeply it affects our lives.
October 1, 2008 Aprofessor, author of popular math histories (The Millennium Problems, 2002), and NPR math commentator, Devlin here appraises the mathematical significance of a certain letter. Dated August 24, 1654, it was part of an exchange of correspondence between Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat, who otherwise never met, and its subject was what is today called probability theory. Pascal had gotten on the jag of pondering odds because a gambling aristocrat asked him how to improve his luck, but what is nowadays taught in school was by no means obvious to Pascal, who decided to tap as his sounding board the best mathematician of the timeFermat. Along with this immediate backstory, Devlin describes a prevailing outlook that could not conceive of predicting future outcomes in games of chance. Explaining how Pascal and Fermat demolished that mental block, Devlin depicts Fermat as leading Pascal toward correct understanding of probabilitys underlying logic, through quotation of the entire letter and a characteristically clear explanation of the logic of probability with which Pascal struggled. A rewarding account for math buffs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)
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