Blaise Pascal · Mathematics
How a gambler’s puzzle - the ‘problem of points’ - drew Pascal and Fermat into the 1654 correspondence that founded probability theory, and gave the world its first rigorous grip on chance through the idea of mathematical <em>expectation</em>.
You learned that the ‘problem of points’ asks how to split the pot of an unfinished game, and that Pascal and Fermat answered it in 1654 by reasoning about each player’s future chances, inventing the concept of mathematical expectation . Explain the puzzle and their solution in your own words.
Leads to Pierre de Fermat.
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