 Ars Conjectandi is considered a landmark work in combinatorics and the founding work of mathematical probability . Among others , an anthology of great mathematical writings published by Elsevier and edited by historian Ivor Grattan @-@ Guinness describes the studies set out in the work " [ occupying ] mathematicians throughout 18th and 19th centuries " — an influence lasting three centuries . Statistician Anthony Edwards praised not only the book 's groundbreaking content , writing that it demonstrated Bernoulli 's " thorough familiarity with the many facets [ of combinatorics ] , " but its form : " [ Ars Conjectandi ] is a very well @-@ written book , excellently constructed . " Perhaps most recently , notable popular mathematical historian and topologist William Dunham called the paper " the next milestone of probability theory [ after the work of Cardano ] " as well as " Jakob Bernoulli 's masterpiece " . It greatly aided what Dunham describes as " Bernoulli 's long @-@ established reputation " . 
