Abraham De Moivre: Setting the Stage for Classical Probability and Its Applications 1st Edition by David R. Bellhouse (PDF)

Description

Extensively researched, this book traces the life and work of Abraham De Moivre as well as the state of probability and statistics in eighteenth-century Britain. It is the first extensive biography of De Moivre and is based on recently discovered material and translations, including some of De Moivre’s letters.The book begins with discussions on De Moivre’s early life in France and his initial work in pure mathematics with some excursions into celestial mechanics. It then describes his fundamental contributions to probability theory and applications, including those in finance and actuarial science. The author explores how De Moivre’s wide network of personal and professional connections often motivated his research. The book also covers De Moivre’s contemporaries and his impact on the field. Written in a clear, approachable style, this biography will appeal to historians and practitioners of the art of probability and statistics in a wide range of applications, including finance and actuarial science.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “For those of us who know Abraham De Moivre’s name only or largely through his theorem for powers of a complex number and perhaps some vague notion that he had ‘something to do with probability, ‘ this book will come as a revelation. In telling the story of De Moivre’s life, the book traces a path through some of the most significant mathematical developments of the 17th and 18th centuries, and his name looms large in many aspects of the field. … this biography tells a lot of the history of mathematics in the 18th century as it influenced, and was influenced by, its subject.”–Mark Bollman, MAA Reviews, February 2013″Bellhouse’s book is the first extensive intellectual biography of De Moivre; it is excellent. Written on two levels–historical and mathematical–the book deals not only with DeMoivre’s work on probability, as one might expect based on the subtitle, but with his integral mathematical work as well. … Everything in this book is written with mathematical clarity and exactness. … the book is wholeheartedly recommended to all who like probability, mathematics, history, and fair speeches. This is the kind of definitive text that is a must for every history of mathematics shelf.”–Aleksandar M. Nikolic, Mathematical Reviews, 2012h”This is a very thorough biography of Abraham De Moivre. The author (a Canadian professor specializing in the history of statistics and actuarial science) has clearly done a lot of research, including an in-depth study of De Moivre’s correspondence with his contemporaries. In addition to biographical details, the book provides an overview of the mathematics developed by De Moivre. … a very readable book.”–Rudi Penne and Paul Levrie, WeetLogs.SciLogs.be, April 2012″This is a very scholarly piece of work, with many references to original documents … Bellhouse’s book should fascinate most academics in that, beside going with the uttermost detail into De Moivre’s contributions to probability, it uncovers the way (mathematical) research was done in the 17th and 18th century England … Another fascinating aspect of the book is the way English (incl. De Moivre) and Continental mathematicians fought and bickered on the priority of discoveries. … this is a highly pleasant and easily readable [book] on the career of a major mathematician and one of the founding fathers of probability theory. David Bellhouse is to be congratulated on the scholarship exhibited by this book and on the painstaking pursuit of all historical documents related with De Moivre’s life.”–Christian Robert on his blog, March 2012 About the Author David Bellhouse is a professor in the Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences at the University of Western Ontario. His research interests include statistical theory and methods as well as the history of probability, statistics, actuarial science, and mathematics.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐数学的な貢献についての解説はすでに既知の知識として仮定されて書かれているようなところが4つ星の理由．Montmortによる剽窃疑惑の追及などは，ちょっとずるいところもあった人だということがわかる．それでも死亡記事に誰からも慕われたと書かれているのはDe Moivreだけだという．De Moivreにとっての数学は生活がかかっていたともいえるので，いまになってみると，MontmortやBernoulliが少し先に公式を導こうが発表したものを見て参照がなかろうが，この時代の数学はそういう人たちによって多くの業績が築かれたのだということで充分な気もする．De Moivreは計算は比較的間違えずに正しい解答を導く能力のあった人だということがわかった．Bayesのようにある問題で間違った解答を導くことはしていないという．フランスからのユグノーの移民として英国での生活は厳しかったはずだが，その能力によってF.R.Sとなり，Newton, Halley, Stirlingなどと深い交流をしていることが，学説史家のやや硬い文章でつづられている．そう大著ではないので，すぐに読み切れるし，17世紀末から18世紀前半の科学者たちの交流の様子や考え方を知ることは，現代の学会や知識人たちの交流の仕方を違った視点で見ることが可能になる．真理や数式は美しく，定理の証明も華麗にできるが，それを創造した人間は必ずしも寛容さや優雅さを身に付けていたわけではない．残念なことと感じるか，人間だからそこがおもしろいと感じるか，それは読者にゆだねられている．

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