Most Honourable Remembrance - The Life and Work of Thomas Bayes (Electronic book text, 2003 ed.)

Thomas Bayes (1702 - 1761) was an English clergyman and mathematician. Until around 1950, he was considered a minor contributor to the history of mathematics, and if he was known at all it was because his name was attached to a simple theorem in the calculus of probabilities. Since then, however, that theorem and the problem Bayes was able to solve with it have become the basis for an important branch of statistical methodology, the problem of inverse probability. Little is known of Bayes' life and few records mentioning him remain. Dale has meticulously researched the material and here gives a picture of Bayes and his time, as well as the intellectual and social climate in which Bayes worked. The writing is both instructive and entertaining, representing superb historical scholarship and excellent mathematics.