Alan McLean wrote:
>
> Laplace once said: 'Probability is merely common sense reduced to
> numbers.'
>
> Can anyone provide a reference for this?
>
In:
author = "P.S. (Marquis de) Laplace",
title = "A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities",
publisher = "Dover",
year = "1995"
(tr. F.W. Truscott and F.L. Emory of "Essai philosophique sur les
probabilities", original pub. Gauthier-Villiars (Paris) 1814).
last page, p. 196, (and just as well, for if it hadn't been on the first
or last pages, I wouldn't have found it!):
"It is seen in this essay that the theory of probabilities is at bottom
only common sense reduced to calculus;" This is chapter 18 -- Historical
Notice Concerning the Calculus of Probabilities.
I think the slight difference in translation 'numbers -> calculus' would
be unremarkable; likewise 'merely -> basically -> at bottom'.
Best regards,
Jon C.
--
Jonathan G Campbell, Computer Science, Queen's University
Belfast, BT7 1NN Tel +44 (0)28 90 274623 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.cs.qub.ac.uk/~J.Campbell/
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