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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
History is a deep subject. Probability theory is a deep subject. History of probability theory, and its applications to risk management is a very deep, if not murky, subject that deserves expert treatment. The author is commended for being the first to tackle such a thorny topic and to make serious effort to educate the lay reader. But the book is full of mistakes. Other reviewers have already commented on mistakes in history and in mathematics. Let me comment on mistakes in physics. Page 200, Einstein did not discover the motion of electrons. In 1905, Einstein wrote a paper on Brownian motion of particles that could be observed using an optical microscope. Page 216: Einstein did not… Read more
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This is *the* classic and most essential reference on the theory of partitions and related q-series written by the leading authority on the subject. It requires almost no technical prerequisites, starts from scratch, and proceeds in a very clear and orderly manner towards some of the more elaborate aspects of the subject. If you (plan to) work on this subject, buy it. The book was written in 1976, and as such does not cover the more recent developments, though the bibliography has been updated (to a limited degree) for the current 1998 paperback edition. However, after all these years, it remains *the* introduction to the subject (with the possible exception of chapter 14 on… Read more
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