CHAPTER V. 



THE CONCEPTION EANDOMNESS AND ITS SCIENTIFIC 

 TREATMENT. 



1. THERE is a term of frequent occurrence in treatises 

 on Probability, and which we have already had repeated oc 

 casion to employ, viz. the designation random applied to an 

 event, as in the expression a random distribution . The 

 scientific conception involved in the correct use of this term 

 is, I apprehend, nothing more than that of aggregate order 

 and individual irregularity (or apparent irregularity), which 

 has been already described in the preceding chapters. A 

 brief discussion of the requisites in this scientific conception, 

 and in particular of the nature and some of the reasons for 

 the departure from the popular conception, may serve to 

 clear up some of the principal remaining difficulties which 

 attend this part of our subject. 



The original 1 , and still popular, signification of the term 

 is of course widely different from the scientific. What it 

 looks to is the origin, not the results/of the random per 

 formance, and it has reference rather to the single action 

 than to a group or series of actions. Thus, when a man 



* According to Prof. Skeat (Ety- nected with the Teutonic word rand 



mological Dictionary) the earliest (brim), and implies the furious and 



known meaning is that of furious irregular action of a river full to the 



action, as 111 a charge of cavalry. brim. 

 The etymology, he considers, is con- 



