Poincaré's Odds

Laurent Mazliak (1)

1 LPMA - Laboratoire de Probabilités et Modèles Aléatoires

This paper is devoted to Poincaré's work in probability. Though the subject does not represent a large part of the mathematician's achievements, it provides significant insight into the evolution of Poincaré's thought on several important matters such as the changes in physics implied by statistical mechan- ics and molecular theories. After having drawn the general historical context of this evolution, I focus on several important steps in Poincaré's texts dealing with probability theory, and eventually consider how his legacy was developed by the next generation.

Domaines: Probabilités [math.PR]; Histoire et perspectives sur les mathématiques [math.HO]

Laurent Mazliak. Poincaré's Odds. Duplantier, Bertrand & Rivasseau, Vincent. Henri Poincaré, 1912-2012, Birkhäuser Mathematics, pp.1-40, 2015, Progress in Mathematical Physics, 978-3-0348-0833-0. ⟨hal-01055232⟩