The Unfinished Game : Pascal, Fermat, and the Seventeenth-Century Letter that Made the World Modern
(2008)

Nonfiction

eBook

Provider: hoopla

Details

PUBLISHED
[United States] : Basic Books, 2008
Made available through hoopla
DESCRIPTION

1 online resource (304 pages)

ISBN/ISSN
9780786726325 MWT17472128, 0786726326 17472128
LANGUAGE
English
NOTES

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

Mode of access: World Wide Web

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