The Doctrine of Chances: Or, a Method of Calculating the Probability of Events in Play

Abraham de Moivre

doi:10.1017/CBO9781139833783

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.

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-vi
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Dedication
pp vii-viii
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Preface
pp ix-xix
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ADVERTISEMENT
pp xx-xxii
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The INTRODUCTION
pp 1-30
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Solutions of several sorts of Problems, deduced from the Rules laid down in the Introduction
pp 31-256
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The Doctrine of Chances

Or, a Method of Calculating the Probability of Events in Play

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-vi

Dedication
pp vii-viii

Preface
pp ix-xix

ADVERTISEMENT
pp xx-xxii

The INTRODUCTION
pp 1-30

Solutions of several sorts of Problems, deduced from the Rules laid down in the Introduction
pp 31-256

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The Doctrine of Chances

Or, a Method of Calculating the Probability of Events in Play

Book description

Refine List

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Contents

Frontmatter pp i-vi

Dedication pp vii-viii

Preface pp ix-xix

ADVERTISEMENT pp xx-xxii

The INTRODUCTION pp 1-30

Solutions of several sorts of Problems, deduced from the Rules laid down in the Introduction pp 31-256

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Book summary page views

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

Accessibility Information

Frontmatter
pp i-vi

Dedication
pp vii-viii

Preface
pp ix-xix

ADVERTISEMENT
pp xx-xxii

The INTRODUCTION
pp 1-30

Solutions of several sorts of Problems, deduced from the Rules laid down in the Introduction
pp 31-256