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Daniel Bernoulli: 2 ideas worth knowing

2 ideas from Daniel Bernoulli, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

• A coin-flip game worth infinite money that no one will pay much to play

  In this game, a coin is tossed until it lands heads, doubling the prize with every extra tail — 1 ducat, then 2, then 4, and so on. The expected payout is mathematically infinite, …

  — Daniel Bernoulli, Specimen Theoriae Novae de Mensura Sortis

• Faster-moving air pushes less — that's most of how a wing flies

  Within a smooth-flowing fluid, speeding it up and lowering its pressure happen together: as air accelerates over a curved wing, the pressure above drops below the pressure undernea…

  — Daniel Bernoulli, Hydrodynamica

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