Quotessence
Home / Authors / George Boole
George Boole

George Boole Quotes

Mathematician

Filter quotes by topic

AllProbabilityMathematicalMathematicsScienceLawMayTheoryCircumstancesDoeEssenceEventsExpectationsFormIdeasKnowledgeLogicMathNewtonObjectsPerception

Famous George Boole Quotes

“A distinguished writer [Siméon Denis Poisson] has thus stated the fundamental definitions of the science: 'The probability of an event is the reason we have to believe that it has taken place, or that it will take place.' 'The measure of the probability of an event is the ratio of the number of cases favourable to that event, to the total number of cases favourable or contrary, and all equally possible' (equally like to happen). From these definitions it follows that the word probability, in its mathematical acceptation, has reference to the state of our knowledge of the circumstances under which an event may happen or fail. With the degree of information which we possess concerning the circumstances of an event, the reason we have to think that it will occur, or, to use a single term, our expectation of it, will vary. Probability is expectation founded upon partial knowledge. A perfect acquaintance with all the circumstances affecting the occurrence of an event would change expectation into certainty, and leave neither room nor demand for a theory of probabilities.”

ScienceKnowledgeLogicMathematicsMathThoughtProbabilityPoissonSiméon Denis Poisson
Book:An Investigation of the Laws of Thought
Create image

“To unfold the secret laws and relations of those high faculties of thought by which all beyond the merely perceptive knowledge of the world and of ourselves is attained or matured, is a object which does not stand in need of commendation to a rational mind.”

WorldNeedsMindDoeLawScienceSecretKnowledgeObjectsPerceptionRelationRationalFacultyMaturedKnowledge Of The WorldCommendation
Book:An Investigation of the Laws of Thought: On which are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities
Create image