Related papers: Isaac Newton as a Probabilist
A sentence from Carl Boyer's A History of Mathematics can be interpreted so that the full brothers Nicolaus II (02/06/1695 - 07/31/1726) and Daniel Bernoulli (02/08/1700 - 03/17/1782) are the authors of the St. Petersburg paradox. The…
In this article we demonstrate how algorithmic probability theory is applied to situations that involve uncertainty. When people are unsure of their model of reality, then the outcome they observe will cause them to update their beliefs. We…
We compare to different extensions of the ancient game of nim: Moore's nim$(n, \leq k)$ and exact nim$(n, = k)$. Given integers $n$ and $k$ such that $0 < k \leq n$, we consider $n$ piles of stones. Two players alternate turns. By one move…
Physics was in crisis at the beginning of the twentieth century because the newborn Maxwell's electromagnetism defied mechanistic preconceptions. Albert Einstein understood that the solution to the crisis required an audacious reworking of…
In this lecture I will talk about three mathematical puzzles involving mathematics and computation that have preoccupied me over the years. The first puzzle is to understand the amazing success of the simplex algorithm for linear…
We explore an (unpublished) approach to the famous Jacobian Conjecture by means of identities of algebras, discovered by the brilliant deceased mathematician, Alexander Vladimirovich Yagzhev (1951{2001). This approach also indicates some…
The idea of the principle of nested intervals or the concept of convergent sequences which is equivalent to this idea dates back to the ancient world. Archimedes calculated the unknown in excess and deficiency, approximating with two sets…
The Sleeping Beauty problem is a puzzle in probability theory that has gained much attention since Elga's discussion of it [Elga, Adam, Analysis 60 (2), p.143-147 (2000)]. Sleeping Beauty is put asleep, and a coin is tossed. If the outcome…
The systematic biases seen in people's probability judgments are typically taken as evidence that people do not reason about probability using the rules of probability theory, but instead use heuristics which sometimes yield reasonable…
Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which…
Dickson conjectured that a set of polynomials will take on infinitely many simultaneous prime values. Later others, such as Hardy and Littlewood, gave estimates for the number of these primes. In this article we look at this conjecture,…
We argue using simple models that all successful practical uses of probabilities originate in quantum fluctuations in the microscopic physical world around us, often propagated to macroscopic scales. Thus we claim there is no physically…
Did time begin at a Big Bang? Will the present expansion of the universe last for a finite or infinite time? These questions sound philosophical but are becoming, now in the twenty-first century, central to the scientific study of…
The computational method of parametric probability analysis is introduced. It is demonstrated how to embed logical formulas from the propositional calculus into parametric probability networks, thereby enabling sound reasoning about the…
Newton's deduction of the inverse square law from Kepler's ellipse and area laws together with his "superb theorem" on the gravitation attraction of spherically symmetric bodies, are the major steps leading to the discovery of the law of…
We deliver a call to arms for probabilistic numerical methods: algorithms for numerical tasks, including linear algebra, integration, optimization and solving differential equations, that return uncertainties in their calculations. Such…
The 16-year old Blaise Pascal found a way to determine if 6 points lie on a conic using a straightedge. Nearly 400 years later, we develop a method that uses a straightedge to check whether 10 points lie on a plane cubic curve.
There are growing uncertainties surrounding the classical model of computation established by G\"odel, Church, Kleene, Turing and others in the 1930s onwards. The mismatch between the Turing machine conception, and the experiences of those…
When people mention the mathematical achievements of Euclid, his geometrical achievements always spring to mind. But, his Number-Theoretical achievements (See Books 7, 8 and 9 in his magnum opus \emph{Elements} [1]) are rarely spoken. The…
Una de las presuposiciones de la ciencia desde los tiempos de Galileo, Newton y Laplace ha sido la previsibilidad del mundo. Esta idea ha influido en los modelos cientificos y tecnologicos. Sin embargo, en las ultimas decadas, el caos y la…