Bernoulli, Jacob

Bernoulli, Jacob ( Jacques) (1654–1705; b. Basel, Switzerland; d. Basel, Switzerland) A Swiss mathematician. Jacob Bernoulli is best known to statisticians for his Ars Conjectandi (The Art of Conjecture), a treatise on probability, published posthumously in 1713, in which he derived the form of the binomial distribution. Jacob was the uncle of Nicolaus Bernoulli. At the University of Basel he studied philosophy and theology according to his parents' wishes, whilst studying mathematics and astronomy for his own satisfaction. After graduation Jacob travelled around Europe studying with fellow mathematicians. In 1683 he returned to the University of Basel to teach mechanics. He studied and published in many areas of mathematics, including, in 1689, a statement of the law of large numbers.