“Probability is expectation founded upon partial knowledge. A perfect acquaintance with all the circumstances affecting the occurrence of an event would change expectation into certainty, and leave neither room nor demand for a theory of probabilities.”

—  George Boole

Source: 1850s, An Investigation of the Laws of Thought (1854), p. 244; Cited in: Michael J. Katz (1986) Templets and the Explanation of Complex Patterns, p. 123

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George Boole 39
English mathematician, philosopher and logician 1815–1864

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