BLAISE P

ASCAL:

PROTÉGÉ A

ND

INNOVATOR OF

MATHEM

ATICS

B Y I ZA B E L H

O D S O N

I wonder what would happen if I went and thought on a rock…….

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THE TIM

E AT

WHICH PASCAL

LIVED IN

•Pas

cal li

ved on

the b

rink o

f a tim

e of s

cientifi

c

discov

ery in

Europe k

nown as th

e Scie

ntific

Revolutio

n

•Pas

cal’s

idea

s were

influen

ced not o

nly by t

he

French

community

to w

hich he g

rew up in

but

also t

he reli

gious c

onflict

of th

e tim

e and th

e

institutio

ns that

emerg

ed

•Gali

leo, N

ewton, R

ene D

esca

rtes,

and Brah

e

were ju

st so

me of t

he scie

ntists

of Pas

cal’s

time

PASCAL’S

CHILDHOOD • Blaise Pascal was born on June 19, 1623 in

Claremont, France• Dad Etienne Pascal was a minor noble and

government official. • Pascal’s mother died in 1626 when Pascal was

just 3. • Pascal moves to Paris in 1631. He started his

education and was found to have a gift for mathematics.

• At the early age of 14, Pascal was admitted to weekly meetings with Roberval, Mersenne, and other French geometricians, from which the French Academy sprung.

• This was a significant position considering the selectiveness of French Academic Institutions compared to other European institutions

Building Blocks of Pascal’s

Knowledge=His Father

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BLAISE P

ASCAL

CALCULA

TOR

•Pas

cal c

reated

this

for his

father

to use

in 16

42

in his job

as a

royal ta

x com

mission

er

•Pas

cal s

pent t

hree ye

ars an

d wen

t throu

gh 50

prototyp

es befo

re pres

entin

g his first

mac

hine

to the p

ublic in

1645

•Th

is inve

ntion la

unched

man

y innov

ators

to

come o

ut in Eu

rope a

nd start

inve

nting ot

her

mechan

ical d

evice

s and ot

her ca

lculat

ors

• Th

is ca

lculat

or co

uld add an

d subtra

ct an

d

paved

the w

ay fo

r future

arithmeti

c mac

hines

PASCAL’S

TRIANGLE

• Published in Pascal’s Traité du triangle arithmétique (1653)

• Though Pascal was not the first to discover this pattern (the Chinese and Arabs had in earlier centuries), Pascal was the first to realize its compete capabilities and uses the pattern contained

• Pascal’s triangle is a pattern of binomial coefficients in a triangle

• This made a significant contribution in geometry and number theory

• Applications of Pascal’s findings include:

(x + y)2 = x2 + 2xy + y2 = 1x2y0 + 2x1y1 + 1x0y2

Or the model for all:(x + y)n = a0xn + a1xn−1y + 

a2xn−2y2 + ... + an−1xyn−1 + anyn

PASCAL A

ND

PROBABILITY

PROBLEM OF POINTS—The issue in question was to decide how the stakes of a game of chance should be divided if that game were not completed for some reason.

• French nobleman Chevalier challenged Pascal to solve a puzzle known at the time as the problem of points.

• Pascal shows how to figure out the answer by listing all of the possibilities from the very beginning. 

•   We then look at all the combinations of heads and tails that are possible in three tosses =eight. 

• If each H or T has a possibility of being correct 4 times, this means that all 8 have an equally probability of picking.

• Through his work with probability Pascal established many of the basic laws of probability we use today

I wonder if it took Pascal a machine to figure out probability

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PASCAL’S

WAGER

•Pa

scal fo

rmulat

ed an

argumen

t for h

is beli

ef in God

which

has co

me to b

e know

n as Pas

cal’s

Wag

er

•He s

tates

in Pe

nsees:

If you

erroneou

sly be

lieve in

God, you

lose n

othing (

assum

ing that

death is

the a

bsolute

end),

whereas

if you

correc

tly belie

ve in God,

you gain

every

thing (e

ternal

bliss).

But if yo

u corr

ectly d

isbelie

ve in God, yo

u gain n

othing

(death e

nds all)

, where

as if y

ou err

oneously

disbelie

ve in G

od,

you los

e ever

ything (e

ternal

damnat

ion)

•Thi

s theol

ogical

argument is

based upon th

e thought th

at fail

ure

to acc

ept God’

s exis

tence ris

ks los

ing everyth

ing with

no payo

ff

and in tu

rn the b

est so

lution

is to

accept G

od

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PASCAL’S

THEO

LOGY

•In lit

erature,

Pasca

l is re

garded

as on

e of t

he import

ant

authors

of the F

rench

Classic

al Peri

od and is

today

still

one o

f the b

est a

uthors of

Fren

ch pros

e.

•His

use of

satir

e and w

it influen

ced la

ter deb

aters

of

scien

ce an

d other

fields.

•Th

e con

tent o

f his

literat

ure is

best rem

embere

d for it

s

stron

g oppos

ition to

the r

ation

alism

of Ren

é Des

carte

s

and si

multaneo

us asse

rtion

that

the main

counter

vailin

g

philoso

phy, em

piricism

, was

also

not goo

d for

determ

ining majo

r tru

ths.

PASCAL’S

RELIGIO

US

AFFILI

ATIONS

• Though King Louis XIV deemed the Jansenists or radical Catholics heretical, Pascal was a firm Jansenist

• He wrote Écrit sur la signature du formulaire ("Writ on the Signing of the Form"), exhorting the Jansenists not to give in.

• The Roman- Catholic Church also deemed Jansenism heretical and this led to the French suppression of the movement in Port-Royal in 1661

Jansenism—theology and religion emphasizing original sin, human depravity, predestination, and divine grace.

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SIGNIFICAN

CE AND

DEATH

OF

PASCAL

•In hon

or of

his sci

entifi

c con

tributio

ns, the n

ame

Pasca

l has

been give

n to th

e SI u

nit of p

ressu

re,,

Pasca

l's tr

iangle

and Pas

cal's

wag

er sti

ll bea

r his

name.

•In 16

62, P

asca

l's ill

ness b

ecam

e wors

e, an

d his

emoti

onal

conditio

n had se

verel

y wors

ened

since

his

sister

´s dea

th. In Pari

s on August

18, 166

2, Pas

cal

went in

to co

nvulsi

ons.

He died

the n

ext m

orning, h

is

last w

ords b

eing "M

ay God

never

aban

don m

e," an

d

was burie

d in th

e cem

etery

of Sain

t-Étie

nne-du-M

ont.

•An au

topsy

perfor

med aft

er his d

eath r

eveale

d probl

ems w

ith

his sto

mach, or

gans, a

nd abdom

en. Desp

ite the

autop

sy, th

e

cause

of his p

oor he

alth was

never

precise

ly dete

rmine

d.

SOURCES CITED• http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~mmk/Teaching/AI/l1.html• http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/pascal.html• http://www.countingblocks.com/building-blocks/• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal's_calculator• http://www.mathsisgoodforyou.com/artefacts/pascalstriangle.htm• http://abundancesecrets.com/motivational-posters/index.php?item=1869791• http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theism/wager.html• http://bccphilosophy08.blogspot.com/• http://verydemotivational.memebase.com/?id=8744• http://

www.examiner.com/atheism-in-philadelphia/atheism-101-refuting-pascal-s-wager• http://poundingheartbeat.com/2010/10/28/blaise-pascal-quotes-about-life/• http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/h/heretic.asp• http://weirdscience.ca/page/3/• http://jpposters.com/Art/41296/Death-Mask-of-Blaise-Pascal-1662/1733254.html