Quotations by Johann Bernoulli

But just as much as it is easy to find the differential of a given quantity, so it is difficult to find the integral of a given differential. Moreover, sometimes we cannot say with certainty whether the integral of a given quantity can be found or not.

We define the art of conjecture, or stochastic art, as the art of evaluating as exactly as possible the probabilities of things, so that in our judgements and actions we can always base ourselves on what has been found to be the best, the most appropriate, the most certain, the best advised: this is the only object of the wisdom of the philosopher and the prudence of the statesman.
Ars Conjectandi

A quantity which is increased or decreased by an infinitely small quantity is neither increased nor decreased.
Quoted in D MacHale, Comic Sections (Dublin 1993)

JOC/EFR February 2006

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