Abstract
In science fiction writer Stanley G Weinbaum’s 1935 short story “The Lotus Eaters” the ultimate law of physics is declared to be the law of chance. Given the overwhelming power of statistical mechanics and of quantum mechanics this assessment is hard to dispute. The study of probability combines beautiful reasoning beginning from abstract first principles and describes the observable world with remarkable clarity. So before moving into Monte Carlo methods it is worthwhile reviewing the fundamentals of probability.
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© 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
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(2007). Probability. In: Lim, C., Nebus, J. (eds) Vorticity, Statistical Mechanics, and Monte Carlo Simulation. Springer Monographs in Mathematics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-49431-9_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-49431-9_2
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-35075-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-49431-9
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