ruth@utstat.uucp (Ruth Croxford) (02/22/89)
Topic: A Manuscript on Chance by John Arbuthnot
Speaker: David Bellhouse
Date: 4:00, Thursday, March 2, 1989
Place: ROOM 2110, Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St George Street, U of Toronto
Abstract:
The Gregory manuscript collection held by the University of Edinburgh
Library contains a treatise on chance written by John Arbuthnot (1667-1735).
The manuscript is dated 1694. It contains two theorems and four problems
which are either generalizations of results in his 1692 book 'Of the Laws of
Chance' or anticipations of his 1710 significance test, the world's first,
published in 'Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'. The contents
of the manuscript indicate that Arbuthnot, better known for his literary
accomplishments in the creation of the character John Bull, was an able
mathematician working on problems of current interest to probabilists.
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Coffee and tea will be served in the De Lury Lounge (SS6006) at 3:30.