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A Manuscript on Chance Written by John Arbuthnot

1989; Wiley; Volume: 57; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1403798

1751-5823

David R. Bellhouse,

Statistical Mechanics and Entropy

The Gregory manuscript collection held by the University of Edinburgh Library contains a treatise on chance written by John Arbuthnot (MS Dk.1.2. Fol. B [no. 19]), probably in 1694. The manuscript consists of two theorems and four problems in which either generalizations of results in Arbuthnot (1692) or anticipations of results in Arbuthnot (1710) are given. Two types of significance tests are given as applications to the results derived. One of the tests is the same form as that used in 1710; the other is a crude one-sample test of location. The mathematical content of the manuscript indicates that Arbuthnot was an able mathematician working on problems of current interest to probabilists.