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bibliography

(Encyclopedia)bibliography. The listing of books is of ancient origin. Lists of clay tablets have been found at Nineveh and elsewhere; the library at Alexandria had subject lists of its books. Modern bibliography b...

probability

(Encyclopedia)probability, in mathematics, assignment of a number as a measure of the “chance” that a given event will occur. There are certain important restrictions on such a probability measure. In any exper...

Bayes, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Bayes, Thomas, 1702–61, English clergyman and mathematician. The son of a Nonconformist minister, he was privately educated and earned his livelihood as a minister to the Nonconformist community at ...

combinations, in mathematics

(Encyclopedia)combinations, in mathematics: see probability. ...

chance

(Encyclopedia)chance, in mathematics: see probability. ...

permutations and combinations

(Encyclopedia)permutations and combinations: see probability. ...

belief

(Encyclopedia)belief, in philosophy, commitment to something, involving intellectual assent. Philosophers have disagreed as to whether belief is active or passive; René Descartes held that it is a matter of will, ...

Cournot, Antoine Augustin

(Encyclopedia)Cournot, Antoine Augustin äNtwänˈ ōgüstăNˈ ko͞ornōˈ [key], 1801–77, French mathematician and economist. He developed mathematical theories of chance and probability and was one of the firs...

Erdös, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Erdös, Paul ĕrˈdös [key], 1913–96, Hungarian mathematician, b. Budapest. A child prodigy, he was mostly home-schooled by his parents—both teachers of mathematics—until he entered the Univ. o...

tunneling

(Encyclopedia)tunneling, quantum-mechanical effect by which a particle can penetrate a barrier into a region of space that would be forbidden by ordinary classical mechanics. Tunneling is a direct result of the wav...