This study discusses the history of the central limit theorem and related probabilistic limit theorems from about 1810 through 1950. In this context the book also describes the historical development of analytical probability theory and its tools, such as characteristic functions or moments. The central limit theorem was originally deduced by Laplace as a statement about approximations for the distributions of sums of independent random variables within the framework of classical probability, which focused upon specific problems and applications. Making this theorem an autonomous mathematical object was very important for the development of modern probability theory.
About the First Edition: The study of any topic becomes more meaningful if one also studies the historical development that resulted in the final theorem. ... This is an excellent book on mathematics in the making. --Philip Peak, The Mathematics Teacher, May, 1975 I find the book very interesting. It contains valuable information and useful references. It can be recommended not only to historians of science and mathematics but also to students of probability and statistics. --Wei-Ching Chang, Historica Mathematica, August, 1976 In the months since I wrote ... I have read it from cover to cover at least once and perused it here and there a number of times. I still find it a very interesting and worthwhile contribution to the history of probability and statistics. --Churchill Eisenhart, past president of the American Statistical Association, in a letter to the author, February 3, 1975 The name Central Limit Theorem covers a wide variety of results involving the determination of necessary and sufficient conditions under which sums of independent random variables, suitably standardized, have cumulative distribution functions close to the Gaussian distribution. As the name Central Limit Theorem suggests, it is a centerpiece of probability theory which also carries over to statistics. Part One of The Life and Times of the Central Limit Theorem, Second Edition traces its fascinating history from seeds sown by Jacob Bernoulli to use of integrals of $\exp (x^2)$ as an approximation tool, the development of the theory of errors of observation, problems in mathematical astronomy, the emergence of the hypothesis of elementary errors, the fundamental work of Laplace, and the emergence of an abstract Central Limit Theorem through the work of Chebyshev, Markov and Lyapunov. This closes the classical period of the life of the Central Limit Theorem, 1713-1901. The second part of the book includes papers by Feller and Le Cam, as well as comments by Doob, Trotter, and Pollard, describing the modern history of the Central Limit Theorem (1920-1937), in particular through contributions of Lindeberg, Cramer, Levy, and Feller. The Appendix to the book contains four fundamental papers by Lyapunov on the Central Limit Theorem, made available in English for the first time.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
This book picks up the history of mathematics from where Sherlock Holmes in Babylon left it. The 40 articles of Who Gave You the Epsilon? continue the story of the development of mathematics into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The articles have all been published in the Mathematical Association of America journals and are in many cases written by distinguished mathematicians such as G. H. Hardy and B. van der Waerden. The articles are arranged thematically to show the development of analysis, geometry, algebra and number theory through this period of time. Each chapter is preceded by a foreword, giving the historical background and setting and the scene, and is followed by an afterword, reporting on advances in our historical knowledge and understanding since the articles first appeared. This book is ideal for anyone wanting to explore the history of mathematics.
Making good decisions under conditions of uncertainty - which is the norm - requires a sound appreciation of the way random chance works. As analysis and modelling of most aspects of the world, and all measurement, are necessarily imprecise and involve uncertainties of varying degrees, the understanding and management of probabilities is central to much work in the sciences and economics. In this Very Short Introduction, John Haigh introduces the ideas of probability and different philosophical approaches to probability, and gives a brief account of the history of development of probability theory, from Galileo and Pascal to Bayes, Laplace, Poisson, and Markov. He describes the basic probability distributions, and goes on to discuss a wide range of applications in science, economics, and a variety of other contexts such as games and betting. He concludes with an intriguing discussion of coincidences and some curious paradoxes. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Martingale Limit Theory and Its Application discusses the asymptotic properties of martingales, particularly as regards key prototype of probabilistic behavior that has wide applications. The book explains the thesis that martingale theory is central to probability theory, and also examines the relationships between martingales and processes embeddable in or approximated by Brownian motion. The text reviews the martingale convergence theorem, the classical limit theory and analogs, and the martingale limit theorems viewed as the rate of convergence results in the martingale convergence theorem. The book explains the square function inequalities, weak law of large numbers, as well as the strong law of large numbers. The text discusses the reverse martingales, martingale tail sums, the invariance principles in the central limit theorem, and also the law of the iterated logarithm. The book investigates the limit theory for stationary processes via corresponding results for approximating martingales and the estimation of parameters from stochastic processes. The text can be profitably used as a reference for mathematicians, advanced students, and professors of higher mathematics or statistics.
"Traces the historical development of the normal law. Second Edition offers a comprehensive treatment of the bivariate normal distribution--presenting entirely new material on normal integrals, asymptotic normality, the asymptotic properties of order statistics, and point estimation and statistical intervals."
This book offers a detailed history of parametric statistical inference. Covering the period between James Bernoulli and R.A. Fisher, it examines: binomial statistical inference; statistical inference by inverse probability; the central limit theorem and linear minimum variance estimation by Laplace and Gauss; error theory, skew distributions, correlation, sampling distributions; and the Fisherian Revolution. Lively biographical sketches of many of the main characters are featured throughout, including Laplace, Gauss, Edgeworth, Fisher, and Karl Pearson. Also examined are the roles played by DeMoivre, James Bernoulli, and Lagrange.
