E600 -- Solutio quarundam quaestionum difficiliorum in calculo probabilium
(The solution of certain difficult questions in the calculus of probabilities)
Summary:
The Genoise lottery was the first number lottery, and as such drew much attention from 18th Century mathematicians. Its chief expositors were Nicolas Bernoulli and Euler. Euler himself devoted at least five papers to the subject:
E338,
E412,
E812, and
E813, as well as this one. In this paper, Euler investigated the probability that all numbers or some fewer numbers be drawn in a sequence of lotteries.
According to the records, it was presented to the St.
Petersburg Academy on October 8, 1781.
Publication:
-
Originally published in Opuscula Analytica 2, 1785, pp. 331-346
-
Opera Omnia: Series 1, Volume 7, pp. 408 - 424
Documents Available:
- Original Publication: E600
- Richard J. Pulskamp has put together a fantastic page on Euler's Probability & Statistics, including a lot of interesting background and historical work. The page includes a
translation of E600.
- Rob Bradley
of Adelphi Univeristy has written an excellent paper,
Euler and the Genoese Lottery
in which he examines a significant fraction of Euler's work on probability.
- Euler wrote four other papers on the Genoese lottery:
- E338, Sur la probabilte des sequences dans la lotterie Genoise
- E412, Solution d'une questione tres dificle dans le calcul des probabilites
- E812, Relexiones sur une espese singulier de loterie nommee loterie genoise
- E813, Analyse d'un probleme du calcul des probabilites
Return to the Euler Archive