The Science of Conjecture
Subtitle: Evidence and Probability before Pascal
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: June 22, 2001
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 512
ISBN-13: 9780801865695
Subjects: History of mathematics; History of science; Science; Mathematics; Science/Mathematics; History & Philosophy; Probability & Statistics - General; History / Europe / General; Evidence; History; Probabilities
First sentence: THE LAW OF EVIDENCE is the central thread in the history of probability.
Description: "In The Science of Conjecture, James Franklin examines how judges, witch inquisitors, and juries evaluated evidence; scientists weighed reasons for and against scientific theories; and merchants counted shipwrecks to determine insurance rates. Sometimes this type of reasoning avoided numbers entirely, as in the legal standard of "proof beyond a reasonable doubt"; at other times it involved rough numerical estimates, such as gambling odds or the level of risk in chance events.

The Science of Conjecture provides a history of rational methods of dealing with uncertainty."--BOOK JACKET.