Talk:Martingale (probability theory)

False statement about word origin

English has been using the word "martingale" since 1580 at the latest. It originally meant a strap that could be added to a horse's harness to limit how far the horse could lift its head; this was used during training as a check against out-of-control behavior. TooManyFingers (talk) 22:45, 6 May 2024 (UTC)

Please find a good RS reference and we can add it. Limit-theorem (talk) 06:06, 8 May 2024 (UTC)

Actually, for the word origin we should start with the gambling use, as this is not about etymology but mathematics and probability. Limit-theorem (talk) 12:27, 8 May 2024 (UTC)

The word does not come from the strap for horses, to my knowledge. If I remember correctly, there were other things that were also called a martingale in the past. The origin of the word in mathematics is to my knowledge unkown. There is also a French article about it: "Histoire de martingales" by Roger Mansuy (Roger Mansuy, “Histoire de martingales”, Mathématiques et sciences humaines, 169, Printemps 2005, DOI: 10.4000/msh.2945) Tensorproduct --talk 20:59, 8 May 2024 (UTC)

Some cites can be found here: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (M) 67.198.37.16 (talk) 04:30, 6 May 2025 (UTC)