 Between 1703 to 1705, Leibniz corresponded with Jakob after learning about his discoveries in probability from his brother Johann. Leibniz managed to provide thoughtful criticisms on Bernoulli's law of large number, but failed to provide Bernoulli with de Witt's work on annuities that he so desired. From the outset, Bernoulli wished for his work to demonstrate that combinatorics and probability theory would have numerous real-world applications in all facets of society — in the line of Graunt's and de Witt's work — and would serve as a rigorous method of logical reasoning under insufficient evidence, as used in courtrooms and in moral judgements. It was also hoped that the theory of probability could provide comprehensive and consistent method of reasoning, where ordinary reasoning might be overwhelmed by the complexity of the situation. Thus the title Ars Conjectandi was chosen: a link to the concept of ars inveniendi from scholasticism, which provided the symbolic link to pragmatism he desired and also as an extension of the prior Ars Cogitandi.
