P.S. Laplace's work on probability

Archive for History of Exact Sciences 16 (2):137-187 (1976)
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Abstract

Taken together with my previous articles [77], [80] devoted to the history of finite random sums and to Laplace's theory of errors, this paper sheds sufficient light on the whole work of Laplace in probability. Laplace's theory of probability is subdivided into theory of probability proper, limit theorems and mathematical statistics (not yet distinguished as a separate entity). I maintain that in its very design Laplace's theory of probability is a discipline pertaining to natural science rather than to mathematics. I maintain also the idea that the so-called Laplacian determinism was no hindrance to applications of his theory of probability to natural science and that one of his utterances in this connection could have well been made by Maxwell's contemporaries. Two possible reasons why the theory of probability stagnated after Laplace's work are singled out: the absence of new fields of application and, also, the insufficient level of mathematical abstraction used by Laplace. For all his achievements, I reach the general conclusion that he did not originate the theory of probability as it is now known.

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Citations of this work

C.F. Gauss and the theory of errors.O. B. Sheynin - 1979 - Archive for History of Exact Sciences 20 (1):21-72.
On the history of the statistical method in biology.O. B. Sheynin - 1980 - Archive for History of Exact Sciences 22 (4):323-371.
On the history of medical statistics.O. B. Sheynin - 1982 - Archive for History of Exact Sciences 26 (3):241-286.
On the history of the statistical method in astronomy.O. B. Sheynin - 1984 - Archive for History of Exact Sciences 29 (2):151-199.
S.D. Poisson's work in probability.O. B. Sheynin - 1978 - Archive for History of Exact Sciences 18 (3):245-300.

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References found in this work

On the prehistory of the theory of probability.O. B. Sheynin - 1974 - Archive for History of Exact Sciences 12 (2):97-141.
J.H. Lambert's work on probability.O. B. Sheynin - 1971 - Archive for History of Exact Sciences 7 (3):244-256.
R. J. Boscovich's work on probability.O. B. Sheynin - 1973 - Archive for History of Exact Sciences 9 (4-5):306-324.
Finite random sums.O. B. Sheynin - 1973 - Archive for History of Exact Sciences 9 (4-5):275-305.
The implicit philosophy of mathematics today.H. Freudenthal - 1968 - In Raymond Klibansky (ed.), Contemporary Philosophy. Firenze, la Nuova Italia. pp. 342--368.

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