… Is Poisson, the only one to have designed the Loi de Poisson in 1837 ?
It seems that stats had exerted their power of attration since much earlier than 1837.
See for instance the italian Cardano in the 16.century and Bernouilli in the 18.century both of whom are Loi de Poisson’s forerunners.
Also, think about Chebychev, Markov, Borel; all of them have improved this “science”.
Isn’t such a Law of Large numbers a matter of feeling dizzy?
Aren’t the subprime and all similar assets based upon this Law its collateral victims as well?
Are we not inclined to protect us against this law when we refer to the principle of “Small is Beautiful”?
In the Marketing area, one of many “stat intensive” specialties, people are dreaming now of “niche” strategies.
In the Finance area, one another very much “data crunching” specialty, the investors are discovering the merits of “Alpha Stategies” and the beauty of “idiosyncratic risk” as strongly opposed to the gross behaviour of the markets that is mirrored in the “Beta” factor.
Could you prefer now the “Law of Great Numbers” to “Small is Beautiful” ?
Dominique F. Pasquier