A. A. Cournot Exposition of the Theory of Chances and Probabilities

Antoine Augustin Cournot (1801 – 1877) was a mathematician, philosopher, economist and educator (Feller 1961; Etudes 1978). Here, I discuss his contribution of 1843 reprinted in 1984 (Paris, Libraire J. Vrin) as vol. 1 of his Oeuvres Complètes complete with an Introduction and Commentary by B. Bru. The Preface begins by an explanation: Cournot wished to make assessable his subject to those unacquainted with the higher chapters of mathematics. In § 123 he even repeated the formulation of the Pythagorean proposition (excluded in the translation) and in § 69 he says that he adduced a table (Kramp’s table) of a certain function (of the exponential function of a negative square) but he did not provide its analytical expression.