Tag Archives: chance

(A brief) history of randomness, and simulation techniques

Hearing “there is a 10% chance of rain today” or “the medical test has a positive predictive value of 75%” shows that the probabilities are now everywhere. A probability is a quantity that is difficult to grasp, but essential when trying to theorize and measure chance, or randomness. And if mathematical theory finally came very late, as Hacking (2006) points out, this did not prevent insurance from developing early enough, and from having the first (actuarial) mortality tables even before the “probability of death” or “life expectancy” had a mathematical basis. And in the same way, many techniques were invented to “generate randomness“, before the explosion of the so-called Monte Carlo methods, in parallel with the development of computing (and the fact that a machine could generate chance). Continue reading (A brief) history of randomness, and simulation techniques