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Laplace's demon. In the history of science, Laplace's demon was a notable published articulation of causal determinism on a scientific basis by Pierre-Simon Laplace in 1814. [1] According to determinism, if someone (the demon) knows the precise location and momentum of every atom in the universe, their past and future values for any given time ...
Pierre-Simon, Marquis de Laplace ( / ləˈplɑːs /; French: [pjɛʁ simɔ̃ laplas]; 23 March 1749 – 5 March 1827) was a French scholar and polymath whose work was important to the development of engineering, mathematics, statistics, physics, astronomy, and philosophy.
Demon (thought experiment) In thought experiments, philosophers and scientists occasionally imagine entities with special abilities as a way to pose thought experiment or highlight apparent paradoxes. The word "demon" here does not necessarily connotate a demon, a malevolent being. For instance, when William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) came up with ...
Historical application to the sunrise problem. Laplace used the rule of succession to calculate the probability that the Sun will rise tomorrow, given that it has risen every day for the past 5000 years. One obtains a very large factor of approximately 5000 × 365.25, which gives odds of about 1,826,200 to 1 in favour of the Sun rising tomorrow.
High and low tide in the Bay of Fundy. The theory of tides is the application of continuum mechanics to interpret and predict the tidal deformations of planetary and satellite bodies and their atmospheres and oceans (especially Earth's oceans) under the gravitational loading of another astronomical body or bodies (especially the Moon and Sun).
A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities. A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities is a work by Pierre-Simon Laplace on the mathematical theory of probability. [1] [2] [3] The book consists of two parts, the first with five chapters and the second with thirteen. [1]
Laplace's report was the subject of a wide-ranging rebuttal by Thomas Young, who wrote in part: The principle of Fermat, although it was assumed by that mathematician on hypothetical, or even imaginary grounds, is in fact a fundamental law with respect to undulatory motion, and is explicitly [ sic ] the basis of every determination in the ...
Demonology is the study of demons within religious belief and myth. Depending on context, it can refer to studies within theology, religious doctrine, or occultism. In many faiths, it concerns the study of a hierarchy of demons. Demons may be nonhuman, separable souls, or discarnate spirits which have never inhabited a body.