Randomness - Hardcover

Bennett, Deborah J

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674107454 ISBN 13: 9780674107458

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1998

Synopsis

This work is aimed at the trouble with trying to learn about probability. A story of the misconceptions and difficulties civilization overcame in progressing toward probabilistic thinking. It is also an account of what makes the science of probalitity daunting in our own day. To acquire a (correct) intuition of chance is not easy to begin with, and moving from an intuitive sense to a formal notion of probability presents further problems. The author traces the path this process takes in an individual trying to come to grips with concepts of uncertainty and fairness, and also charts the parrallel path by which societies have developed ideas about chance. Why, from ancient to modern times have people resorted to chance in making decisions? Is a decision made by random choice "fair"? What role has gambling played in our understanding of chance? Why do some individuals and societies refuse to accept randomness at all? If understanding randomness is so important to probabilistic thinking, why do the experts disagree about what it really is? And why are our intuitions about chance almost always wrong? Anyone who has puzzled over a probability conundrum is struck by the paradoxes and counterintuitive results that occur at a relatively simple level. Why this should be, and how it has been the case through the ages, is the lesson of this book.

About this title

Review

Mathematics is its own language, and sometimes it doesn't translate readily into other human tongues. But Bennett is brilliantly bilingual, well able to put mathematical concepts into clear, expressive English. Her topic is intrinsically fascinating, for who has not felt buffeted by random events, and who has not sought to see when the wheel of fortune may turn up good luck?...More than an intriguing exploration of a peculiarly fascinating part of mathematics, its coverage, ranging from ancient games of chance to modern probability mind-games, makes it comprehensive as well as compulsively readable.--Patricia Monaghan "Booklist "

About the Author

Deborah J. Bennett is Associate Professor of Mathematics, Jersey City State College, New Jersey.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674107454
• ISBN 13: 9780674107458
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 244